The Molière authorship question is a controversy started in 1919 when Pierre Louÿs, in two articles entitled "Corneille est-il l'auteur d'Amphitryon ?" et “L'Imposteur de Corneille et le Tartuffe de Molière" , claimed that he had uncovered a literary hoax. According to Louys, Molière should have not written his own plays due to the exceptional proximity with Pierre Corneille 's verses but should have used him as a ghostwriter. More recently, the rediscovery of so-called comedians poets in the 17th century who were prominent and wealthy and presented the plays at the time as if they were the authors - it is estimated that 9 comedies out of 10 were in this case-, re-launched the questioning on the singularity of comedian and writer Molière There was in fact no copyright legislation at all in France in the 17th century, it was created in the 18th century with the Society of Authors. Molière was barely seen as a writer by his contemporaries: « ses enfants ont plus d’un père » «le Parnasse s’assemble, lorsqu’il veut faire quelque chose» "his children have more than one father »« the Parnassus assembles, when he wants to do something» . « Molière n’est pas une source vive mais un bassin qui reçoit ses eaux d’ailleurs », il est comme ces « ânes seulement capables de porter de grands fardeaux » « Molière is not a living source but a basin that receives its waters from elsewhere ", it is like these" donkeys only able to bear great burdens » . « A M. de Molière Rare et fameux esprit, dont la fertile veine Ignore en écrivant le travail et la peine ; Pour qui tient Apollon tous ses trésors ouverts, Et qui sais à quel coin se marquent les bons vers : Dans les combats d’esprit savant maître d’escrime, Enseigne-moi, Molière, où tu trouves la rime. On dirait quand tu veux, qu’elle te vient chercher : Jamais au bout du vers on ne te voit broncher ; Et, sans qu’un long détour t’arrête ou t’embarrasse, A peine as-tu parlé, qu’elle-même s’y place.» « To Mr Molière Rare and famous spirit, whose fertile vein Ignores while writing the work and the pain; For whom Apollo holds all his treasures open, And who know where the good verses are marked : In spiritual fights expertfencing master, Teach me, Molière, where you find rhyme. It seems as if you want, that it comes to you : Never at the end of the verse do you see yourself flinch; And, without a long detour stopping or embarrassing you, Hardly have you spoken, that she places herself there» Molière in fact never presented himself as a writer and was not considered like this by his contemporaries. He was buried as a comedian and troop director, not an author . The collaboration of Moliere and Corneille is at least firmly established for Psyche, due to the added foreword by the editor . This controversy, which attracted interest from time to time through the 20th century after the sensation made by Louÿs, has been renewed at the beginning of the 2000s, notably with the publication in a scientific journal of two articles attempting to use stylometric analysis to show the closeness of vocabulary and syntax between Corneille and Molière. This controversy has even been strengthened by study of strong coincidence in the lifes of Corneille and Molière which may suggest that there should have been indeed a collaboration for more than a decade between the master of the writing and the actor and director. As in the case of Shakespeare, this theory is rejected by conservatism and for lack of evidence by experts on Corneille and Molière, as well as historians of literature and French drama generally, who do not mention it.
