Racine has been the subject of innumerable critical articles and books since the seventeenth century; of these a small minority has been written in English. Not much remained to be said about Racine as a dramatic artist, but as one brought up to consider Shakespeare as the model of tragedy, the author brings a fresh approach to a dramatist who has been to a great extent a Gallic monopoly. The main road to any understanding of Racinian tragedy must lead through a careful examination of its form, which is chiefly what Lapp contributes to the study of Racine's form and offers in this book.