The French Romantic poet Alfred de Musset was the author of perhaps the greatest French plays of his century. From the sprawling historical panorama of his Lorenzaccio to the compact and charming elucidation of his proverbial You Can’t Think of Everything, from the clown-as-Hamlet buffoonery of Fantasio to the romantic comedy turned comedy turned dark parable of Don’t Trifle with Love, Musset created an astonishing range of voices and dramatic forms for his explorations of human relations, perfectly reflected by the four translators brought together here.

Translated by Michael Feingold, Richard Howard, Nagle Jackson and Paul Schmidt