ABSTRACT
The Madwoman of Chaillot is a pivotal play, fi rst performed just after the end of World War II and shortly preceding the postwar boom of capitalist consumerism, an era of oblivion for environmental degradation. Dying a year earlier, Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) brings to this play the culmination of his loving experience of nature and lifelong concern about economic and ecological corruption. Deemed a “prophet of ecology” by his primary biographer Jacques Body, he imbues Madwoman with a profoundly environmental vision, even though other themes generally are given precedence by scholars.1 Extensive ecocritical analysis and discussion of my production will be enhanced with information on Giraudoux’s background.
