Molière Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière (; ; 15 January 162217 February 1673), was a French playwright, actor and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature. His extant works includes comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language itself is often referred to as the "language of Molière". Born into a prosperous family and having studied at
Jean-Baptiste Rousseau Jean-Baptiste Rousseau Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (6 April 1671 – 17 March 1741) was a French playwright and poet, particularly noted for his cynical epigrams. Rousseau was born in Paris, the son of a shoemaker, and was well educated. As a young man, he gained favour with Boileau, who encouraged him to write. Rousseau began with the theatre, for which he had no aptitude. A one-act comedy, "Le Café", failed in 1694, and he was not much happier with a more ambitious play, "Le Flatteur" (1696), or with the opera "Venus et Adonis" (1697). In 1700 he tried another comedy, "Le Capricieux",