Jean-Baptiste Racine was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as Phèdre, Andromaque, and Athalie. He did write one comedy, Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy, Esther, for the young. December 22, 1639 – April 21, 1699; died at 59. Alive at the same time as Isaac Newton, Johann Sebastian Bach, René Descartes, Rembrandt, and Louis XIV of France. Wiki link