Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac is at once a conspicuous public presence and a concealed author of love: a fighter whose reputation rests on unnumbered duels, and a poet who gives Christian the words that win Roxane’s heart. His story turns on the distance between what he can display—wit, courage, and a fiercely unmistakable bearing—and what he withholds. At the end, Roxane recognizes him as the writer of the letters, but he does not claim the love they expressed. His last word, “MY PANACHE,” makes style and self-command the final answer he can give her.