SOURCE: "Parallels Between Lesage's Theatre and His Novels," in Enlightenment Studies in Honour of Lester G. Crocker, edited by Alfred J. Bingham and Virgil W. Topazio, The Voltaire Foundation, 1979, pp. 283-99.

In the following essay, Runte evaluates Lesage's dramatic works as complements and reflections of his novels, with a focus on structure, characterization, language, and plot patterns.

In Turcaret's shadow an eloquent troupe of Arlequins, Scaramouches, Clitandres and Alis has long been eclipsed. Lesage's theatre has, like many of his translations and novels (Don Quichotte, Don Guzman d'Alfarache, Les Aventures de M. Robert Chevalier, dit de Beauchêne, Estevanille Gonzales, Le Bachelier de Salamanque), been classed as secondary literature despite appeals such as that made by Eugène Lintilhac [in Lesage (1893)]: "Pourtant elles [ces œuvres secondaires] ont un titre général à l'indulgence de la postérité, celui d'avoir nourri leur auteur en lui permettant de polir son...