![Louis XIV of France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Louis_XIV_of_France.jpg)
17th-century French literature was written throughout the ''
Grand Siècle
Grand Siècle or Great Century refers to the period of French history during the 17th century, under the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV.
The period was notable for its development of art and literature, along with the construction of the Pal ...
'' of France, spanning the reigns of
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
, the Regency of
Marie de Medici
Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...
,
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
, the Regency of
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 un ...
(and the civil war called the
Fronde
The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...
) and the reign of
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of ...
. The literature of this period is often equated with the
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...
of Louis XIV's long reign, during which France led Europe in political and cultural development; its authors expounded the classical ideals of order, clarity, proportion and good taste. In reality, 17th-century French literature encompasses far more than just the classicist masterpieces of
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
and
Madame de La Fayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...
.
Society and literature in 17th-century France
In Renaissance France, literature (in the broadest sense of the term) was largely the product of encyclopaedic humanism, and included works produced by an educated class of writers from religious and legal backgrounds. A new conception of nobility, modelled on the Italian Renaissance courts and their
concept of the perfect courtier, was beginning to evolve through French literature. Throughout the 17th century this new concept transformed the image of the rude noble into an ideal of ''honnête homme'' ("the upright man") or the ''bel esprit'' ("beautiful spirit") whose chief virtues included eloquent speech, skill at dance, refined manners, appreciation of the arts, intellectual curiosity, wit, a spiritual or platonic attitude towards love and the ability to write poetry.
Central to this transformation of literature were the salons and literary academies which flourished during the first decades of the 17th century; the expanded role of noble patronage was also significant. The production of literary works such as poems, plays, works of criticism or moral reflection was increasingly considered a necessary practice by nobles, and the creation (or patronage) of the arts served as a means of social advancement for both non- and marginalized noblemen. In the mid-17th century, there were an estimated 2,200 authors in France (mostly nobles and clergy), writing for a reading public of just a few tens of thousands. Under
Cardinal Richelieu, patronage of the arts and literary academies increasingly came under the control of the monarchy.
Salons and Academies
Henry IV's court was considered by contemporaries a rude one, lacking the Italianate sophistication of the court of the
Valois kings. The court also lacked a queen, who traditionally served
as a focus (or patron) of a nation's authors and poets. Henry's literary tastes were largely limited to the chivalric novel
Amadis of Gaul. In the absence of a national literary culture, private
salons formed around upper-class women such as
Marie de Medici
Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...
and
Marguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France ...
, devoting themselves to discussions of literature and society. In the 1620s, the most famous salon was held at the
Hôtel de Rambouillet
The Hôtel de Rambouillet, formerly the Hôtel de Pisani, was the Paris residence of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, who ran a renowned literary salon there from 1620 until 1648. It was situated on the west side of the rue Saint-T ...
by
Madame de Rambouillet; a rival gathering was organized by
Madeleine de Scudéry
Madeleine de Scudéry (15 November 1607 – 2 June 1701), often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer.
Her works also demonstrate such comprehensive knowledge of ancient history that it is suspected she had received inst ...
.
The word ''salon'' first appeared in French in 1664 from the Italian word ''sala'', the large reception hall of a mansion. Before 1664, literary gatherings were often called by the name of the room in which they occurred -- ''cabinet'', ''réduit'', ''alcôve'', and ''ruelle''. For instance, the term ''ruelle'' derives from literary gatherings held in the bedroom, a practice popular even with
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
. Nobles, lying on their beds, would receive close friends and offer them seats on chairs or stools surrounding the bed. ''Ruelle'' ("little street") refers to the space between a bed and the wall in a bedroom; it became a name for these gatherings (and the intellectual and literary circles evolving from them), often under the wing of educated women in the first half of the 17th century.
In the context of French scholastica,
academies
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...
were scholarly societies which monitored, fostered, and critiqued French culture. Academies first appeared in France during the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
, when
Jean-Antoine de Baïf
Jean Antoine de Baïf (; 19 February 1532 – 19 September 1589) was a French poet and member of the '' Pléiade''.
Life
Jean Antoine de Baïf was born in Venice, the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French amb ...
created one devoted to poetry and music, inspired by the academy of Italian
Marsilio Ficino. The first half of the 17th century was marked by a phenomenal growth in private academies, organised around a half-dozen or a dozen individuals who met regularly. Academies were generally more formal and more focused on criticism and analysis than
salons, which encouraged pleasurable discourse about society. However, certain salons (such as that of
Marguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France ...
) were closer to the academic spirit.
In the mid-17th century, academies gradually came under government control and sponsorship and the number of private academies decreased. The first private academy to fall under governmental control was
L'Académie française, which remains the most prestigious governmental academy in France. Founded in 1634 by
Cardinal Richelieu, L'Académie française focuses on the
French language.
Aristocratic codes
In certain instances, the values of 17th-century nobility played a major part in the literature of the era. Most notable of these values are the aristocratic obsession with glory (''la gloire'') and majesty (''la grandeur''). The spectacle of power, prestige and luxury found in 17th-century literature may be distasteful or even offensive.
Corneille's heroes, for example, have been labeled by modern critics as vainglorious, extravagant and prideful; however, contemporary aristocratic readers would see these characters (and their actions) as representative of nobility.
The
château of Versailles, court ballets, noble portraits,
triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cro ...
es – all of these were representations of glory and prestige. The notion of glory (whether artistic or military) was not vanity or boastfulness or hubris, but rather a moral imperative for the aristocracy. Nobles were required to be generous, magnanimous and to perform great deeds disinterestedly (i.e. because their status demanded it, without expectations of financial or political gain), and to master their own emotions (especially fear, jealousy and the desire for revenge).
One's status in the world demanded appropriate externalisation ( or "
conspicuous consumption"). Nobles indebted themselves to build prestigious urban mansions (''hôtels particuliers'') and to buy clothes, paintings, silverware, dishes and other furnishings befitting their rank. They were also required to show generosity by hosting sumptuous parties and by funding the arts. Conversely, social parvenus who took on the external trappings of the noble classes (such as the wearing of a sword) were severely criticised, sometimes by legal action (laws concerning sumptuous clothing worn by the bourgeois existed since the Middle Ages). These aristocratic values began to be criticised in the mid-17th century;
Blaise Pascal, for example, offered a ferocious analysis of the spectacle of power and
François de La Rochefoucauld posited that no human act—however generous it pretended to be—could be considered disinterested.
Classicism
In an attempt to restrict the proliferation of private centers of intellectual or literary life (so as to impose the royal court as the artistic center of France),
Cardinal Richelieu took an existing literary gathering (around
Valentin Conrart) and designated it as the official
Académie française in 1634. Other original members included
Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin,
Jean Ogier de Gombauld,
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...
,
François le Métel de Boisrobert
François le Métel de Boisrobert (1 August 1592 – 30 March 1662) was a French poet, playwright, and courtier.
Life
He was born in Caen. He trained as a lawyer, later practising for a time in Rouen. He traveled to Paris in 1622 and establis ...
,
François Maynard,
Marin le Roy de Gomberville
Marin le Roy, sieur du Parc et de Gomberville (1600 – 14 June 1674) was a French poet and novelist.
He was born at Paris, and at fourteen he produced a volume of poetry. At twenty he wrote a ''Discours sur l'histoire'' and at twenty-two a pa ...
and
Nicolas Faret; members added at the time of its official creation included
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac,
Claude Favre de Vaugelas
Claude Favre de Vaugelas (6 January 1585 – 26 February 1650) was a Savoyard grammarian and man of letters. Although a lifelong courtier, Claude Favre was widely known by the name of one of the landed estates he owned as '' seigneur'' of Va ...
and
Vincent Voiture
Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...
. This process of state control of the arts and literature would be expanded even more during the reign of Louis XIV.
"Classicism" (as it applies to literature) implies notions of order, clarity, moral purpose and good taste. Many of these notions are directly inspired by the works of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
and
Horace, and by classical Greek and Roman masterpieces. In theater, a play should follow the ''
Three Unities
The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities represent a prescriptive theory of dramatic tragedy that was introduced in Italy in the 16th century and was influential for three centuries. The three unities are:
#''unity of action' ...
'':
* Unity of place: The setting should not change. In practice this led to the frequent "Castle, interior". Battles take place off stage.
* Unity of time: Ideally, the entire play should take place in 24 hours.
* Unity of action: There should be one central story, and all secondary plots should link to it.
Although based on classical examples, the unities of place and time were seen as essential for the spectator's complete absorption into the dramatic action; wildly dispersed scenes in China or Africa, or over many years would—critics maintained—break the theatrical illusion. Sometimes, grouped with unity of action is the notion that no character should appear unexpectedly late in the drama.
Linked with the theatrical unities are the following concepts:
* ''Les bienséances'' (
decorum
Decorum (from the Latin: "right, proper") was a principle of classical rhetoric, poetry and theatrical theory concerning the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject. The concept of ''decorum'' is also applied to prescribed limit ...
): Literature should respect moral codes and good taste; nothing should be presented that flouts these codes, even if they are historical events.
* ''La vraisemblance'': Actions should be believable. When historical events contradict believability, some critics advised the latter. The criterion of believability was sometimes used to criticize soliloquy; in late classical plays characters are almost invariably supplied with confidants (valets, friends, nurses), to whom they reveal their emotions.
These rules precluded many elements common in the baroque tragi-comedy: flying horses, chivalric battles, magical trips to foreign lands and the ''
deus ex machina
''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...
''; the mauling of Hippolyte by a monster in
Phèdre
''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris.
Composition and premiere
Wit ...
could only take place offstage. Finally, literature and art should consciously follow Horace's precept "to please and educate" ().
These rules (or codes) were seldom completely followed, and many of the 17th century's masterpieces broke these rules intentionally to heighten emotional effect:
* Corneille's ''Le Cid'' was criticised for having Rodrigue appear before Chimène after having killed her father, a violation of moral codes.
* ''La Princesse de Clèves revelation to her husband of her adulterous feelings for the Duc de Nemours was criticised for being unbelievable.
In 1674 there erupted an intellectual debate ''(
la querelle des Anciens et des Modernes)'' on whether the arts and literature of the modern era had achieved more than the illustrious writers and artists of antiquity. The Académy was dominated by the "Moderns" (
Charles Perrault,
Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin) and Perrault's poem ''"Le Siècle de Louis le Grand"'' ("The Century of Louis the Great") in 1687 was the strongest expression of their conviction that the reign of Louis XIV was the equal of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
. As a great lover of the classics,
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...
found himself pushed into the role of champion of the ''Anciens'' (his severe criticisms of Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin's poems did not help), and
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
,
Jean de La Fontaine and
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère (, , ; 16 August 1645 – 11 May 1696) was a French philosopher and moralist, who was noted for his satire.
Early years
Jean de La Bruyère was born in Paris, in today's Essonne ''département'', in 1645. His family was mi ...
took his defense. Meanwhile,
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle and the newspaper ''
Mercure galant'' joined the "Moderns". The debate would last until the beginning of the 18th century.
The term "classicism" is also linked to the visual arts and architecture of the period where it is also known as
Style Louis XIV
The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the official ...
, most specifically to the construction of the
Palace of Versailles (the crowning achievement of an official program of propaganda and regal glory). Although originally a country retreat used for special festivities—and known more for
André Le Nôtre's gardens and fountains—Versailles eventually became the permanent home of the king. By relocating to Versailles Louis effectively avoided the dangers of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
(in his youth, Louis XIV had suffered during the civil and parliamentary insurrection known as the
Fronde
The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...
), and could also keep his eye closely on the affairs of the nobles and play them off against each other and against the newer ''noblesse de robe''. Versailles became a gilded cage; to leave spelled disaster for a noble, for all official charges and appointments were made there. A strict etiquette was imposed; a word or glance from the king could make or destroy a career. The king himself followed a strict daily regimen, and there was little privacy. Through his wars and the glory of Versailles Louis became, to a certain degree, the arbiter of taste and power in Europe; both his château and the etiquette in Versailles were copied by the other European courts. However, the difficult wars at the end of his long reign and the religious problems created by the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...
made the last years dark.
Prose
''Les Amours'' and ''Les histoires tragiques''
In France, the period following the
Wars of Religion
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
saw the appearance of a new form of narrative fiction (which some critics have termed the "sentimental novel"), which quickly became a literary sensation thanks to the enthusiasm of a reading public searching for entertainment after so many years of conflict. These short (and realistic) novels of love (or ''amours'', as they are frequently called in the titles) included extensive examples of gallant letters and polite discourse, amorous dialogues, letters and poems inserted in the story, gallant conceits and other rhetorical figures. These texts played an important role in the elaboration of new modes of civility and discourse of the upper classes (leading to the notion of the noble ''honnête homme''). None of these novels have been republished since the early 17th century, and they remain largely unknown today. Authors associated with ''les Amours'' were
Antoine de Nervèze,
Nicolas des Escuteaux
Nicolas des Escuteaux (or the "sieur des Escuteaux", sometimes written "Escuteaus"; after 1570 – c. 1628) was a French novelist from the early 17th century.
Life
He was born into a noble family in the region around Loudun. The Reformation w ...
and
François du Souhait. Meanwhile, the tradition of the dark tale—coming from the tragic short story (''
histoire tragique Histoires tragiques ('tragic stories') were a genre of French fiction in 16th-17th centuries, a Baroque rendering of Boccaccio's type of short stories, concentrating on the dark side of human nature.
The progenitor of this kind of a story was Pier ...
'') associated with
Bandello
Matteo Bandello ( 1480 – 1562) was an Italian writer, soldier, monk, and, later, a Bishop mostly known for his novellas. His collection of 214 novellas made him the most popular short-story writer of his day.
Biography
Matteo Bandello wa ...
, and frequently ending in suicide or murder—continued in the works of
Jean-Pierre Camus
Jean-Pierre Camus (November 3, 1584 – April 26, 1652) was a French bishop, preacher, and author of works of fiction and spirituality.
Biography
Jean-Pierre Camus was born in Paris in 1584, the son of Jean Camus, seigneur de Saint Bonnet, who w ...
and François de Rosset.
The Baroque adventure novel
By 1610 the short novel of love had largely disappeared, as tastes returned to longer adventure novels (''romans d'aventures'') and their clichés (pirates, storms, kidnapped maidens) that had been popular since the Valois court.
Amadis of Gaul was the favorite reading matter of Henri IV;
Béroalde de Verville was still writing, and
Nicolas de Montreux had just died in 1608. Both Nervèze and Des Escuteaux in their later works attempted multi-volume adventure novels, and over the next twenty years the priest
Jean-Pierre Camus
Jean-Pierre Camus (November 3, 1584 – April 26, 1652) was a French bishop, preacher, and author of works of fiction and spirituality.
Biography
Jean-Pierre Camus was born in Paris in 1584, the son of Jean Camus, seigneur de Saint Bonnet, who w ...
adapted the form to tell harrowing moral tales heavily influenced by the ''histoire tragique''. The best known of these long adventure novels is perhaps ''Polexandre'' (1629–49) by the young author
Marin le Roy de Gomberville
Marin le Roy, sieur du Parc et de Gomberville (1600 – 14 June 1674) was a French poet and novelist.
He was born at Paris, and at fourteen he produced a volume of poetry. At twenty he wrote a ''Discours sur l'histoire'' and at twenty-two a pa ...
.
All these authors were eclipsed, however, by the international success of
Honoré d'Urfé
Honoré d'Urfé, marquis de Valromey, comte de Châteauneuf (11 February 15681 June 1625) was a French novelist and miscellaneous writer.
Life
He was born at Marseille, the grandson of Claude d'Urfé, and was educated at the Collège de T ...
's novel ''
l'Astrée
''L'Astrée'' is a pastoral novel by Honoré d'Urfé, published between 1607 and 1627.
Possibly the single most influential work of 17th-century French literature, ''L'Astrée'' has been called the "novel of novels", partly for its immense leng ...
'' (1607–1633). This story centered on the shepherd Céladon and his love, Astrée, and combined a
frame tale
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
* Framing (c ...
device of shepherds and maidens meeting, telling stories and philosophizing on love (a form derived from the ancient Greek novel "the Aethiopica" by
Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus Emesenus or Heliodorus of Emesa ( grc, Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἐμεσηνός) is the author of the ancient Greek novel called the ''Aethiopica'' () or ''Theagenes and Chariclea'' (), which has been dated to the 220s or 370s AD.
Ide ...
) with a
pastoral setting (derived from the Spanish and Italian pastoral tradition from such writers as
Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples.
He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic '' Arcadia'', a masterwor ...
,
Jorge de Montemayor
( es, Jorge de Montemayor) (1520? – 26 February 1561) was a Portuguese novelist and poet, who wrote almost exclusively in Spanish. His most famous work is a pastoral prose romance, the ''Diana'' (1559).
Biography
He was born at Montemor- ...
,
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...
and
Giambattista Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini (10 December 1538 – 7 October 1612) was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.
Life
Guarini was born in Ferrara. On the termination of his studies at the universities of University of Pisa, Pisa, University of Padu ...
) of noble, idealized shepherds and maidens tending their flocks and falling in (and out of) love. The influence of d'Urfé's novel was immense, especially in its discursive structure (which permitted a large number of stories and characters to be introduced and their resolution to be delayed for thousands of pages; a ''
roman à tiroirs''). D'Urfé's novel also promoted a rarefied
neo-Platonism
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
, which differed profoundly from the physicality of the knights in the Renaissance novel (such as
Amadis of Gaul). The only element of d'Urfé's work which did not produce imitations was its ''roman pastoral'' setting.
In theorizing the origins of the novel, the early 17th century conceived of the form as "an epic in prose"; in truth, the epic poem at the end of the Renaissance had few thematic differences from the novel. Novelistic love had spilled into the epic, and adventurous knights had become the subject of novels. The novels from 1640 to 1660 would complete this melding. These novels contained multiple volumes and were structurally complicated, using the same techniques of inserted stories and tale-within-a-tale dialogues as d'Urfé. Often called ''romans de longue haleine'' (or "deep-breath books"), they usually took place in ancient Rome, Egypt or Persia, used historical characters (for this reason they are called ''
romans héroiques'') and told the adventures of a series of perfect lovers sent (by accident or misfortune) to the four corners of the world. Unlike the chivalric romance, magical elements and creatures were relatively rare. Furthermore, there was a concentration in these works on psychological analysis and on moral and sentimental questions which the Renaissance novel lacked. Many of these novels were actually ''romans à clé'' which described actual contemporary relationships under disguised novelistic names and characters. The most famous of these authors and novels are:
*
Madeleine de Scudéry
Madeleine de Scudéry (15 November 1607 – 2 June 1701), often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer.
Her works also demonstrate such comprehensive knowledge of ancient history that it is suspected she had received inst ...
(1607–1701)
** ''Ibrahim, ou l'illustre Bassa'' (4 vols. 1641)
** ''Artamène, ou le Grand Cyrus'' (10 vols. 1648–1653)
** ''Clélie, histoire romaine'' (10 vols. 1654–1661)
** ''Almahide, ou l'esclave reine'' (8 vols. 1661–1663)
*
Roland Le Vayer de Boutigny (1627–1685)
** ''Mithridate'' (1648–51)
*
Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède
Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède (1609 or 1610 – 1663) was a French novelist and dramatist. He was born at the Château of Tolgou in Salignac-Eyvigues (Dordogne). After studying at Toulouse, he came to Paris and entered the reg ...
** ''Cassandre'' (10 vols. 1642–1645)
** ''Cleopatre'' (1646–57)
** ''Faramond'' (1661)
Baroque comic fiction
Not all fiction of the first half of the 17th century was a wild flight of fancy in far-flung lands and rarefied, adventurous love stories. Influenced by the international success of the
picaresque novel
The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...
from Spain (such as ''
Lazarillo de Tormes
''The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and of His Fortunes and Adversities'' ( es, La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades ) is a Spanish novella, published anonymously because of its anticlerical content. It was published s ...
''), and by
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...
' short-story collection ''Exemplary Tales'' (which appeared in French beginning in 1614) and ''
Don Quixote de la Mancha
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Western ...
'' (French translation 1614–1618), the French novelists of the first half of the 17th century also chose to describe and satirize their own era and its excesses. Other important satirical models were provided by
Fernando de Rojas
Fernando de Rojas (c. 1465/73, in La Puebla de Montalbán, Toledo, Spain – April 1541, in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Spain) was a Spanish author and dramatist, known for his only surviving work, '' La Celestina'' (originally titled ''Trag ...
' ''
La Celestina
''The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea'' ( es, Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea), known in Spain as ''La Celestina'' is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. It is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a descendant of converted Jews, ...
'' and
John Barclay's (1582–1621) two satirical Latin works, ''Euphormio sive Satiricon'' (1602) and ''
Argenis
''Argenis'' is a book by John Barclay (poet), John Barclay. It is a work of historical allegory which tells the story of the religious conflict in France under Henry III of France and Henry IV of France, and also touches on more contemporary Engli ...
'' (1621).
Agrippa d'Aubigné
Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné (, 8 February 155229 April 1630) was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem ''Les Tragiques'' (1616) is widely regarded as his masterpiece. In a book about his Catholic contemporary Jean de ...
's ''Les Aventures du baron de Faeneste'' portrays the rude manners and comic adventures of a Gascon in the royal court.
Charles Sorel's ''L'histoire comique de Francion'' is a picaresque-inspired story of the ruses and amorous dealings of a young gentleman; his ''Le Berger extravagant'' is a satire of the d'Urfé-inspired pastoral, which (taking a clue from the end of ''Don Quixote'') has a young man take on the life of a shepherd. Despite their "realism" Sorel's works remain highly baroque, with dream sequences and inserted narration (for example, when Francion tells of his years at school) typical of the adventure novel. This use of inserted stories also follows Cervantes, who inserted a number of nearly autonomous stories into his ''Quixote''.
Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...
's most famous work, ''Le Roman comique'', uses the narrative frame of a group of ambulant actors in the provinces to present both scenes of
farce and sophisticated, inserted tales.
Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
(made famous by
Edmond Rostand's 19th-century play) wrote two novels which, 60 years before ''
Gulliver's Travels'' or Voltaire (or science fiction), use a journey to magical lands (the moon and the sun) as pretexts for satirizing contemporary philosophy and morals. By the end of the 17th century, Cyrano's works would inspire a number of
philosophical novels
Philosophical fiction refers to the class of works of fiction which devote a significant portion of their content to the sort of questions normally addressed in philosophy. These might explore any facet of the human condition, including the funct ...
, in which Frenchmen travel to foreign lands and strange utopias. The early half of the 17th century also saw the continued popularity of the comic short story and collections of humorous discussions, typified by the ''Histoires comiques'' of
François du Souhait; the playful, chaotic, sometimes-obscene and almost-unreadable ''Moyen de parvenir'' by
Béroalde de Verville (a parody of "table talk" books, of
Rabelais and of
Michel de Montaigne's ''
The Essays''); the anonymous ''
Les Caquets de l'accouchée'' (1622); and Molière d'Essertine's ''Semaine amoureuse'' (a collection of short stories).
A select list of baroque comique writers and works includes:
*
Agrippa d'Aubigné
Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné (, 8 February 155229 April 1630) was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem ''Les Tragiques'' (1616) is widely regarded as his masterpiece. In a book about his Catholic contemporary Jean de ...
(1552–1630)
** ''Les Aventures du baron de Faeneste'' (1617, 1619, 1630)
*
Béroalde de Verville (1556–1626)
** ''Le Moyen de parvenir'' (c.1610) (with game that manages the composition and interchangeable gags, the book teaches boys mainly girls living in a good way)
*
François du Souhait (c.1570/80 –1617)
** ''Histoires comiques'' (1612)
* Molière d'Essertine (c.1600–1624)
** ''Semaine amoureuse'' (1620)
*
Charles Sorel (1602–1674)
** ''L'histoire comique de Francion'' (1622)
** ''Nouvelles françoises'' (1623)
** ''Le Berger extravagant'' (1627)
* Jean de Lannel
** ''Le Roman satyrique'' (1624)
* Antoine-André Mareschal
** ''La Chrysolite'' (1627)
*
Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...
(1610–1660)
** ''
Virgile travesti'' (1648–53)
** ''Le Roman comique'' (1651–57)
*
Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
(Hector Savinien) (1619–1655)
** ''Histoire comique des Etats et Empires de la Lune'' (1657)
** ''Histoire comique des Etats et Empires du Soleil'' (1662)
In the second half of the 17th century, contemporary settings would be also used in many classical ''nouvelles'' (
novellas—especially as a moral critique of contemporary society).
The ''Nouvelle classique''
By 1660, the multi-volume, baroque historical novel had largely fallen out of fashion. The tendency was for much shorter works (''nouvelles'' or ''petits romans''), without complex structure or adventurous elements (pirates, shipwrecks, kidnappings). This movement away from the baroque novel was supported by theoretical discussions on novel structure, which sought to apply the same Aristotelian and Horacian concepts of the three unities, decorum and verisimilitude that writers had imposed on the theater. For example,
Georges de Scudéry
Georges de Scudéry (22 August 1601 – 14 May 1667), the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet.
Life
Georges de Scudéry was born in Le Havre, in Normandy, whither his father had moved from Provence. ...
, in his preface to ''Ibrahim'' (1641), suggested that a "reasonable limit" for a novel's plot (a form of "unity of time") would be one year. Similarly, in his discussion on ''La Princesse de Clèves'', the ''chevalier'' de Valincourt criticized the inclusion of ancillary stories within the main plot (a form of "unity of action").
An interest in love, psychological analysis, moral dilemmas and social constraints permeates these novels. When the action was placed in an historical setting, this was increasingly a setting in the recent past; although still filled with anachronisms, these ''nouvelles historiques'' demonstrated an interest in historical detail. A number of these short novels recounted the "secret history" of a famous event (like Villedieu's ''Annales galantes''), linking the action to an amorous intrigue; these were called ''histoires galantes''. Some of these short novels told stories of the contemporary world (such as Préchac's ''L'Illustre Parisienne'').
Important ''nouvelles classiques'' were:
*
Jean Renaud de Segrais ''Nouvelles françoises'' (1658)
*
Madame de Lafayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...
''La princesse de Montpensier'' (1662)
*
Madame de Villedieu ''Journal amoureux'' (1669)
*
Jean Donneau de Visé ''Nouvelles galantes et comiques'' (1669)
*
Madame de Villedieu ''Annales galantes'' (1670)
*
Madame de Lafayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...
''Zaïde'' (1671)
*
Madame de Villedieu ''Amour des grands hommes'' (1671)
*
César Vichard de Saint-Réal ''Don Carlos'' (1672)
*
Madame de Villedieu ''Les Désordres de l'amour'' (1675)
* Jean de Préchac ''L'Héroïne mousquetaire'' (1677)
* Jean de Préchac ''Le voyage de Fontainebleau'' (1678)
*
Madame de Lafayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...
''La Princesse de Clèves'' (1678)
* Jean de Préchac ''L'Illustre Parisienne, histoire galante et véritable'' (1679)
The best-known of all of these is Madame de Lafayette's ''La Princesse de Clèves''. Reduced to essentially three characters, the short novel tells the story of a married noblewoman during the reign of Henri II who falls in love with another man, but who reveals her passion to her husband. Although the novel includes several inserted stories, on the whole the narration concentrates on the unspoken doubts and fears of the two individuals living in a social setting dominated by etiquette and moral correctness; despite its historical setting, Lafayette was clearly describing her contemporary world. The psychological analysis is close to the pessimism of
La Rochefoucauld, and the abnegation of the main character leads ultimately to a refusal of a conventional happy ending. For all of its force, Madame de Lafayette's novel is not the first to have a recent historical setting or psychological depth (as some critics contend); these elements may be found in novels of the previous decade, and are already present in certain of the ''Amours'' at the beginning of the 17th century.
Other novelistic forms after 1660
The concerns of the ''nouvelle classique'' (love, psychological analysis, moral dilemmas and social constraints) are also apparent in the anonymous
epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
''Lettres d'une religieuse portugaise'' (''
Letters of a Portuguese Nun'') (1668), attributed to
Guilleragues, which were a sensation when they were published (in part because of their perceived authenticity). These letters, written by a scorned woman to her absent lover, were a powerful representation of amorous passion with many similarities to the language of Racine. Other epistolary novels followed by Claude Barbin,
Vincent Voiture
Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...
,
Edmé Boursault,
Fontenelle (who used the form to introduce discussion of philosophical and moral matters, prefiguring
Montesquieu
Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.
He is the princi ...
's ''
Lettres persanes
''Persian Letters'' (french: Lettres persanes) is a literary work, published in 1721, by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who spend several years in France u ...
'' in the 18th century) and others; actual love letters written by noble ladies (Madame de Bussy-Lameth, Madame de Coligny) were also published.
Antoine Furetière (1619–1688) is responsible for a longer comic novel which pokes fun at a bourgeois family, ''Le Roman bourgeois'' (1666). The choice of the bourgeois ''arriviste'' or ''parvenu'' (a social climber, trying to ape the manners and style of the noble classes) as a source of mockery appears in a number of short stories and theater of the period (such as
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
's ''Bourgeois Gentihomme''). The long adventurous novel of love continued to exist after 1660, albeit in a far shorter form than the novels of the 1640s. Influenced as much by the ''nouvelles historiques'' and ''nouvelles galantes'' as by the ''romans d'aventures'' and ''romans historiques'', these historical novels—whose settings range from ancient Rome to Renaissance Castille or France—were published into the first decades of the 18th century. Authors include
Madame Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy, Mlle
Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force, Mlle Anne de La Roche-Guilhem,
Catherine Bernard
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Chris ...
and Catherine Bédacier-Durand.
A history of the novel, ''
Traitté de l'origine des romans
Pierre Daniel Huet's Trai é de l'origine des Romans (''Treatise on the Origin of Novels'', or ''Romances'') can claim to be the first history of fiction. It was originally published in 1670 as preface to Marie de la Fayette's novel ''Zayde''. ...
'' (1670), was written by
Pierre Daniel Huet
P. D. Huetius
Pierre Daniel Huet (; la, Huetius; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Académie de Physique in Caen (1662-1672) and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 t ...
. This work (much like theoretical discussions on theatrical ''vraisemblance'', ''bienséance'' and the nature of tragedy and comedy) stressed the need for moral utility; it made important distinctions between history and the novel, and between the epic (which treats of politics and war) and the novel (which treats of love). The first half of the 17th century had seen the development of the biographical ''mémoire'' (see below), and by the 1670s this form began to be used in novels.
Madame de Villedieu (real name Marie-Catherine Desjardins), author of a number of ''nouvelles'', also wrote a longer realistic work which represented (and satirized) the contemporary world via the fictionalized ''mémoires'' of young woman recounting her amorous and economic hardships, ''Mémoires de la vie d'Henriette Sylvie de Molière'' (1672–1674).
The fictional ''mémoire'' form was used by other novelists as well.
Courtilz de Sandras' novels (''Mémoires de M.L.C.D.R.'' in 1687, ''Mémoires de M. d'Artagnan'' in 1700 and ''Mémoires de M. de B.'' in 1711) describe the world of Richelieu and Mazarin without gallant clichés; spies, kidnappings and political machinations predominate. Among the other ''mémoires'' of the period the best-known was the work of Englishman
Anthony Hamilton, whose ''Mémoires de la vie du comte de Grammont...'' (telling of his years in the French court from 1643 to 1663) was published in France in 1713. Many of these works were published anonymously; in some cases it is difficult to tell whether they are fictionalized or biographical. Other authors include abbé Cavard, abbé de Villiers, abbé Olivier and le sieur de Grandchamp. The realism (and occasional irony) of these novels would lead directly to those of
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...
,
Pierre de Marivaux
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist.
He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing nume ...
and
Abbé Prévost
Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles ( , , ; 1 April 169725 November 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French priest, author, and novelist.
Life and works
He was born at Hesdin, Artois, and first appears with the full nam ...
in the 18th century.
In the 1690s, the
fairy tale began to appear in French literature. The best-known collection of traditional tales (liberally adapted) was by
Charles Perrault (1697), although many others were published (such as those by
Henriette-Julie de Murat
Henriette-Julie de Murat (1668 in Paris – 9 September 1716 in Château de la Buzardière) was an aristocratic French writer of the late 17th century.
Life
She most likely spent most of her childhood in Paris. In 1691 she married Nicholas de Mu ...
and
Madame d'Aulnoy
Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (1650/1651 – 14 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French author known for her literary fairy tales. When she termed her works ''contes de fées'' (fairy tales), sh ...
). A major revolution would occur with the appearance of
Antoine Galland's first French (and indeed modern) translation of the ''
Thousand and One Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
'' (or ''Arabian Nights'') (in 1704; another translation appeared in 1710–12), which would influence the 18th-century short stories of
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
,
Diderot and many others.
The period also saw several novels with voyages and utopian descriptions of foreign cultures (in imitation of Cyrano de Bergerac, Thomas More and Francis Bacon):
*
Denis Vairasse – ''Histoire de Sévarambes'' (1677)
*
Gabriel de Foigny – ''Les Avantures de Jacques Sadeur dans la découverte et le voyage de la Terre australe'' (or ''la Terre australe connue'' (1676)
* Tyssot de Patot – ''Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé'' (1710)
Of similar didactic aim was
Fénelon's ''
Les Aventures de Télémaque'' (1694—96), which represents a classicist's attempt to overcome the excesses of the baroque novel; using a structure of travels and adventures (grafted onto
Telemachus
Telemachus ( ; grc, Τηλέμαχος, Tēlemakhos, lit=far-fighter), in Greek mythology, is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who is a central character in Homer's ''Odyssey''. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited Pylos and Sparta in s ...
—the son of Ulysses), Fénelon exposes his moral philosophy. This novel would be emulated by other didactic novels during the 18th century.
Poetry
Because of the new conception of ''l'honnête homme'' (the honest or upright man), poetry became one of the principal genres of literary production of noble gentlemen and the non-noble professional writers in their patronage during the 17th century. Poetry was used for all purposes. A great deal of 17th- and 18th-century poetry was "occasional", meaning that it was written to celebrate a particular event (a marriage, birth or a military victory) or to solemnize a tragic occurrence (a death or a military defeat); this type of poetry was favored by gentlemen in the service of a noble or the king. Poetry was the chief form of 17th-century theater; the vast majority of scripted plays were written in verse (see "Theater" below). Poetry was used in satires (
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...
is famous for his ''Satires'' (1666)) and epics (inspired by the Renaissance epic tradition and by
Tasso
TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...
) like
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...
's ''La Pucelle''.
Although French poetry during the reign of Henri IV and Louis XIII was still largely inspired by the poets of the late
Valois court, some of their excesses and poetic liberties found censure—especially in the work of
François de Malherbe
François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator.
Life
He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms of ...
, who criticized
La Pléiade
La Pléiade () was a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleiad ...
's and
Philippe Desportes's irregularities of meter or form (the suppression of the
cesura
image:Music-caesura.svg, 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation
A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a Metre (poetry), metrical pause or break in a Verse (poetry), ...
by a
hiatus
Hiatus may refer to:
*Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure
* Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy
*''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes''
* Gl ...
, sentence clauses spilling over into the next line—''enjambement''—
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
s constructed from Greek words, etc.). The later 17th century would see Malherbe as the grandfather of poetic classicism. The Pléiade poems of the natural world (fields and streams) were continued in the first half of the century—but the tone was often elegiac or melancholy (an "ode to solitude"), and the natural world presented was sometimes the seacoast or some other rugged environment—by poets who have been tagged by later critics with the "baroque" label (notably
Théophile de Viau and
Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant
Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant (September 30, 1594December 29, 1661) was a French poet.
Saint-Amant was born near Rouen. His father was a merchant who had, according to his son's account, been a sailor and had commanded for 22 years "''une ...
).
Poetry came to be a part of the social games in noble salons (see "salons" above), where
epigrams
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...
, satirical verse, and poetic descriptions were all common (the most famous example is ''"La Guirlande de Julie"'' (1641) at the Hôtel de Rambouillet, a collection of floral poems written by the salon members for the birthday of the host's daughter). The linguistic aspects of the phenomenon associated with the ''
précieuses
The French literary style called ''préciosité'' (, ''preciousness'') arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of ''les précieuses'' (), the intellectual, witty and educated women who frequented the sal ...
'' (similar to
Euphuism
Euphuism is a peculiar mannered style of English prose. It takes its name from a prose romance by John Lyly. It consists of a preciously ornate and sophisticated style, employing a deliberate excess of literary devices such as antitheses, allitera ...
in England,
Gongorism in Spain and
Marinism
Marinism (Italian: ''marinismo'', or ''secentismo'', "17th century") is the name now given to an ornate, witty style of poetry and verse drama written in imitation of Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), following in particular ''La Lira'' and ''L'Ad ...
in Italy)—the use of highly metaphorical (sometimes obscure) language, the purification of socially unacceptable vocabulary—was tied to this poetic salon spirit and would have an enormous impact on French poetic and courtly language. Although ''préciosité'' was often mocked (especially in the late 1660s, when the phenomenon had spread to the provinces) for its linguistic and romantic excesses (often linked to a misogynistic disdain for intellectual women), the French language and social manners of the 17th century were permanently changed by it.
From the 1660s, three poets stand out.
Jean de La Fontaine gained enormous celebrity through his
Aesop
Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales c ...
and
Phaedrus-inspired "Fables" (1668–1693), which were written in an irregular-verse form (different meter lengths are used in a poem).
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
was seen as the greatest tragedy writer of his age. Finally,
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...
became the theorizer of poetic classicism. His ''Art poétique'' (1674) praised reason and logic (Boileau elevated Malherbe as the first of the rational poets), believability, moral usefulness and moral correctness; it elevated tragedy and the poetic epic as the great genres and recommended imitation of the poets of antiquity. "Classicism" in poetry would dominate until the pre-romantics and the French Revolution.
A select list of French poets of the 17th century includes:
*
François de Malherbe
François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator.
Life
He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms of ...
(1555–1628)
*
Honoré d'Urfé
Honoré d'Urfé, marquis de Valromey, comte de Châteauneuf (11 February 15681 June 1625) was a French novelist and miscellaneous writer.
Life
He was born at Marseille, the grandson of Claude d'Urfé, and was educated at the Collège de T ...
(1567–1625)
*
Jean Ogier de Gombaud
Jean Ogier de Gombauld (1576 – 1666) was a French playwright and poet.
Gombauld was born in Saint-Just-Luzac, Charente-Maritime and was a Huguenot. He was one of the original members of the Académie française. He also wrote novels, but has ...
(1570?–1666)
*
Mathurin Régnier
Mathurin Régnier (December 21, 1573 – October 22, 1613) was a French satirist.
Life
Régnier was born in Chartres, capital city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region .
His father, Jacques Régnier, was a ...
(1573–1613), nephew of
Philippe Desportes
*
François de Maynard (1582–1646)
*
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan (sometimes mistakenly listed as "marquis de Racan", although he never held this title) (5 February 1589 – 21 January 1670) was a French aristocrat, soldier, poet, dramatist and (original) member of the Aca ...
(1589–1670)
*
Théophile de Viau (1590–1626)
*
François le Métel de Boisrobert
François le Métel de Boisrobert (1 August 1592 – 30 March 1662) was a French poet, playwright, and courtier.
Life
He was born in Caen. He trained as a lawyer, later practising for a time in Rouen. He traveled to Paris in 1622 and establis ...
(1592–1662)
*
Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant
Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant (September 30, 1594December 29, 1661) was a French poet.
Saint-Amant was born near Rouen. His father was a merchant who had, according to his son's account, been a sailor and had commanded for 22 years "''une ...
(1594–1661)
*
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...
(1595–1674)
*
Vincent Voiture
Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...
(1597–1648)
*
Jacques Vallee, Sieur Des Barreaux (1599–1673)
*
Tristan L'Hermite
:''See also François Tristan l'Hermite''
Tristan l'Hermite (died c. 1478) was a French political and military figure of the late Middle Ages. He was born in Flanders near the beginning of the century.
He was provost of the marshals of the Kin ...
(1601?–1655)
*
Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
*
Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...
(1610–1660)
*
Isaac de Benserade (1613–1691)
*
Georges de Brébeuf
Georges de Brébeuf () (1618 – 1661) was a French poet and translator best known for his verse translation of Lucan's ''Pharsalia'' (1654) which was warmly received by Pierre Corneille, but which was ridiculed by Nicolas Boileau in his ''Art p ...
(1618–1661)
*
Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695)
*
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...
(1636–1711)
*
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
(1639–1699)
*
Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu
Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu (1639 – 27 June 1720), French poet and wit, was born at Fontenay, Normandy.
His father, ''maître des Comptes'' of Rouen, sent him to study at the Collège de Navarre. Guillaume early showed the wit that was to d ...
(1639–1720)
*
Jean-François Regnard
Jean-François Regnard (7 February 1655 – 4 September 1709), "the most distinguished, after Molière, of the comic poets of the seventeenth century", was a dramatist, born in Paris, who is equally famous now for the travel diary he kept of a vo ...
(1655–1709)
Theater
Theaters and theatrical companies
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, public theatrical productions in Paris were under the control of guilds. During the last decades of the 16th century, only one of these continued to exist; although ''les Confrères de la Passion'' no longer had the right to perform mystery plays ( since 1548), they were given exclusive rights to oversee all theatrical productions in the capital and rented out their theater (the
Hôtel de Bourgogne) to theatrical troupes for a steep price. In 1599 the guild abandoned its privilege, which permitted other theaters and theatrical companies to operate in the capital. In addition to public theaters, plays were produced in private residences, before the court and in the university. In the first half of the 17th century the public, the humanist theater of the colleges and the theater performed at court exhibited a diversity of tastes; for example, while the tragicomedy was fashionable at the court during the first decade, the public was more interested in tragedy. Early theaters in Paris were often placed in existing structures like
tennis court
A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...
s; their stages were narrow, and facilities for sets and scene changes were often non-existent (this would encourage the development of unity of place). Eventually theaters would develop systems of elaborate machines and decors, fashionable for the chevaleresque flights of knights found in the
tragicomedies of the first half of the 17th century.
In the early part of the 17th century, theater performances took place twice a week, starting at two or three o'clock. Theatrical representations often encompassed several works; they began with a comic prologue, then a tragedy or tragicomedy, then a farce and finally a song. Nobles sometimes sat at the side of the stage during the performance. Since it was impossible to lower the house lights the audience was always aware of each other, and spectators were notably vocal during performances. The place directly in front of the stage, without seats—the ''parterre''—was reserved for men, but since these were the cheapest tickets the parterre was usually a mix of social groups. Elegant people watched the show from the galleries. Princes,
musketeers and royal pages were given free admission. Before 1630, an "honest" woman did not go to the theater. Unlike England, France placed no restrictions on women performing on stage; however, the career of actors of either sex was seen as morally wrong by the Catholic Church (actors were
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
) and by the ascetic religious
Jansenist
Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...
movement. Actors typically had stage names referring to typical roles or stereotypical characters.
In addition to scripted comedies and tragedies, Parisians were also great fans of the Italian acting troupe who performed their ''
Commedia dell'arte'', a kind of improvised theater based on types. The characters from the ''Commedia dell'arte'' would have a profound effect on French theater, and one finds echoes of them in the braggarts, fools, lovers, old men and wily servants which still populate French theater. Finally,
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
reached France during the second half of the 17th century.
The most important theaters and troupes in Paris were:
* ''
Hôtel de Bourgogne'' – Until 1629 this theater was occupied by various troupes, including the ''Comédiens du Roi'' directed by Vallerin Lecomte and (at his death) by Bellerose (Pierre Le Messier). The troupe became the official ''Troupe Royale'' in 1629. Actors included Turlupin, Gros-Guillaume, Gautier-Gargouille, Floridor, Monfleury and
la Champmeslé.
* ''
Théâtre du Marais
The Théâtre du Marais has been the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France. The original and most famous theatre of the name operated in the 17th century. The name was briefly revived for a revolutionary theatre in 1791 ...
'' (1600–1673) – This rival theater of the Hôtel de Bourgogne housed the troupe ''Vieux Comédiens du Roi'' around
Claude Deschamps and the troupe of Jodelet.
* ''La troupe de Monsieur'' – Under the protection of Louis XIV's brother, this was Molière's first Paris troupe. It moved to several theaters in Paris (the ''Petit-Bourbon'' and the ''
Palais-Royal'') before combining in 1673 with the troupe of the ''Théâtre du Marais'' and becoming the troupe of the ''
Hôtel Guénégaud''.
* La
Comédie française – In 1680, Louis XIV united the ''Hôtel de Bourgogne'' and the ''Hôtel Guénégaud'' into one official troupe.
Outside Paris, in the suburbs and the provinces, there were many wandering theatrical troupes; Molière got his start in such a troupe. The royal court and other noble houses were also important organizers of theatrical representations, ''
ballets de cour'', mock battles and other forms of ''divertissement'' for their festivities; in the some cases, the roles of dancers and actors were held by the nobles themselves. The early years at Versailles—before the massive expansion of the residence—were entirely devoted to such pleasures, and similar spectacles continued throughout the reign. Engravings show Louis XIV and the court seated outside before the ''Cour du marbre'' of Versailles, watching the performance of a play.
The great majority of scripted plays in the 17th century were written in verse. Notable exceptions include some of Molière's comedies;
Samuel Chappuzeau, author of ''
Le Théâtre François'', printed one comedy play in both prose and verse at different times. Except for lyric passages in these plays, the meter used was a twelve-syllable
alexandrine
Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French ''Roman ...
line with a regular pause (or ''
cesura
image:Music-caesura.svg, 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation
A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a Metre (poetry), metrical pause or break in a Verse (poetry), ...
'') after the sixth syllable. These lines were put into rhymed
couplets; couplets alternated between "feminine" (i.e. ending in a mute ''e'') and "masculine" (i.e. ending in a vowel other than a mute ''e'', a consonant or a nasal vowel) rhymes.
Baroque theater
17th-century French theater is often reduced to three great names—
Pierre Corneille,
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
and
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
—and to the triumph of "classicism". The truth, however, is far more complicated. Theater at the beginning of the 17th century was dominated by the genres and dramatists of the previous generation; most influential in this respect was
Robert Garnier
Robert Garnier (1544 – 20 September 1590) was a French poet and dramatist. He published his first work while still a law-student at Toulouse, where he won a prize (1565) in the Académie des Jeux Floraux. It was a collection of lyrical pi ...
. Although the royal court had grown tired of the
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
(preferring the more-escapist
tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms. Most often seen in dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the overall mood or a seriou ...
), the theatergoing public preferred the former. This would change in the 1630s and 1640s when (influenced by the long baroque novels of the period) the tragicomedy—a heroic and magical adventure of knights and maidens—became the dominant genre. The amazing success of Corneille's ''Le Cid'' in 1637 and ''Horace'' in 1640 would bring the tragedy back into fashion, where it would remain for the rest of the 17th century.
The most important source for tragic theater was
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
and the precepts of
Horace and
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
(plus modern commentaries by
Julius Caesar Scaliger
Julius Caesar Scaliger (; April 23, 1484 – October 21, 1558), or Giulio Cesare della Scala, was an Italian scholar and physician, who spent a major part of his career in France. He employed the techniques and discoveries of Renaissance humanism ...
and
Lodovico Castelvetro
Lodovico Castelvetro (ca. 1505–1571) was an important figure in the development of neo-classicism, especially in drama. It was his reading of Aristotle that led to a widespread adoption of a tight version of the Three Unities, as a dramatic ...
); plots were taken from classical authors such as
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
and
Suetonius, and from Italian, French and Spanish short-story collections. The Greek tragic authors (
Sophocles
Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...
and
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
) would become increasingly important by the middle of the 17th century. Important models for the 17th century's comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy were also supplied by the Spanish playwrights
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque ...
,
Tirso de Molina
Gabriel Téllez ( 24 March 1583 20 February 1648), better known as Tirso de Molina, was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and Roman Catholic monk. He is primarily known for writing '' The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest'', the play from ...
and
Lope de Vega, many of whose works were translated and adapted for the French stage. Important theatrical models were also supplied by the Italian stage (including the
pastoral) and Italy was also an important source for theoretical discussions on theater, especially regarding decorum (see, for example, the debates on
Sperone Speroni's play ''
Canace
In Greek mythology, Canace (; Ancient Greek: Κανάκη means "‘barking") was a Thessalian princess as daughter of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. She was sometimes referrred as Aeolis.
Family
Canace was the siste ...
'' and
Giovanni Battista Giraldi
Giovanni Battista Giraldi (12 November 1504 – 30 December 1573) was an Italian novelist and poet. He appended the nickname Cinthio to his name and is commonly referred to by that name (which is also rendered as Cynthius, Cintio or, in Italian, ...
's play ''
Orbecche
''Orbecche'' is a tragedy written by Giovanni Battista Giraldi in 1541. It was the first modern tragedy written on classical principles, and along with Sperone Speroni's ''Canace'', was responsible for a sixteenth-century theoretical debate on ...
'').
[See, among other works: Bray, René. ''La formation de la doctrine classique en France''. Paris: Hachette, 1927. For an analysis of theatre development in the Renaissance, see: Reiss. Timothy. "Renaissance theatre and the theory of tragedy." ''The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism.'' Volume III: The Renaissance. pp. 229-247. ]
Regular comedies (i.e. comedies in five acts modeled on
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the ...
or
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...
and the precepts of
Aelius Donatus
Aelius Donatus (; fl. mid-fourth century AD) was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric.
Works
He was the author of a number of professional works, of which several are extant:
*Ars maior – A commentary on Latin grammar.
* Ars minor ...
) were less frequent on the stage than tragedies and tragicomedies around the start of the 17th century; the comedic element of the early stage was dominated by
farce, satirical monologues and by the ''commedia dell'arte''.
Jean Rotrou
Jean Rotrou (21 August 1609 – 28 June 1650) was a French poet and tragedian.
Life
Rotrou was born at Dreux, city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three years ...
and
Pierre Corneille would return to regular comedy shortly before 1630. Corneille's tragedies were strangely un-tragic (his first version of ''Le Cid'' was even listed as a tragicomedy), as they had happy endings. In his theoretical works on theater, Corneille redefined both comedy and tragedy around the following suppositions:
* The stage—in both comedy and tragedy—should feature noble characters (this would eliminate many lowbrow characters, typical of farce, from Corneille's comedies). Noble characters should not be depicted as vile (reprehensible actions are generally due to ignoble characters in Corneille's plays).
* Tragedy deals with affairs of state (wars, dynastic marriages); comedy deals with love. For a work to be tragic, it need not have a tragic ending.
* Although
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
says that
catharsis
Catharsis (from Greek , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration. In its lite ...
(purgation of emotion) should be the goal of tragedy, this is only an ideal. In conformity with the moral code of the period, plays should not show evil being rewarded or nobility being degraded.
The history of the public and critical reaction to Corneille's ''Le Cid'' may be found in other articles (he was criticized for his use of sources, his violation of good taste, and for other irregularities not conforming to Aristotian or Horacian rules), but its impact was stunning.
Cardinal Richelieu asked the newly formed
Académie française to investigate and pronounce on the criticism (it was the Academy's first official judgement), and the controversy reveals a growing attempt to control and regulate theater and theatrical forms. This would be the beginning of 17th-century "classicism". Corneille continued to write plays through 1674 (mainly tragedies, but also what he called "heroic comedies"). Many were successful, although the "irregularities" of his theatrical methods were increasingly criticized (notably by
François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac
François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (4 August 1604 in Paris – 27 July 1676) was a French author and cleric.
The father of François Hédelin was Claude Hédelin, a lawyer at the Parliament, and his mother Catherine Paré, the daughter of the ...
); the success of
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
from the late 1660s signaled the end of his preeminence.
A select list of dramatists and plays, with indication of genre (dates are often approximate, as date of publication was usually long after the date of first performance), includes:
*
Antoine de Montchrestien
Antoine de Montchrestien (, or ''Montchrétien'') (c. 15757 or 8 October 1621) was a French soldier, dramatist, adventurer and economist.
Montchrestien was born in Falaise, Normandy. Son of an apothecary named Mauchrestien and orphan at a young a ...
(c.1575–1621)
** ''Sophonisbe'', AKA ''La Cathaginoise'', AKA La Liberté (tragedy) 1596
** ''La Reine d'Ecosse'', AKA ''L'Ecossaise'' (tragedy) 1601
** ''Aman'' (tragedy) 1601
** ''La Bergerie'' (pastoral) 1601
** ''Hector'' (tragedy) 1604
*
Jean de Schelandre
Jean de Schelandre (c.1585 – 18 October 1635), Seigneur de Saumazènes, was a French poet.
Biography
He was born about 1585 near Verdun of a Calvinist family, and studied at the university of Paris. He then joined Turenne's army in the Nethe ...
(c.1585–1635)
** ''Tyr et Sidon, ou les funestes amours de Belcar et Méliane'' (1608)
*
Alexandre Hardy
Alexandre Hardy (c. 1570/1572 – 1632) was a French dramatist, one of the most prolific of all time. He claimed to have written some six hundred plays, but only thirty-four are extant.
He was born in Paris, and seems to have been connected mo ...
(1572–c.1632) Hardy reputedly wrote 600 plays; only 34 have survived.
** ''Scédase, ou l'hospitalité violée'' (tragedy) 1624
** ''La Force du sang'' (tragicomedy) 1625 (the plot is taken from a Cervantes short story)
** ''Lucrèce, ou l'Adultère puni'' (tragedy) 1628
*
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan (sometimes mistakenly listed as "marquis de Racan", although he never held this title) (5 February 1589 – 21 January 1670) was a French aristocrat, soldier, poet, dramatist and (original) member of the Aca ...
(1589–1670)
** ''Les Bergeries'' (pastoral) 1625
*
Théophile de Viau (1590–1626)
** ''Les Amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisbé'' (tragedy) 1621
*
François le Métel de Boisrobert
François le Métel de Boisrobert (1 August 1592 – 30 March 1662) was a French poet, playwright, and courtier.
Life
He was born in Caen. He trained as a lawyer, later practising for a time in Rouen. He traveled to Paris in 1622 and establis ...
(1592–1662)
** ''Didon la chaste ou Les Amours de Hiarbas'' (tragedy) 1642
*
Jean Mairet (1604–1686)
** ''La Sylve'' (pastoral tragicomedy) c.1626
** ''La Silvanire, ou La Morte vive'' (pastoral tragicomedy) 1630
** ''Les Galanteries du Duc d'Ossonne Vice-Roi de Naples'' (comedy) 1632
** ''La Sophonisbe'' (tragedy) 1634
** ''La Virginie'' (tragicomedy) 1636
* ''
Tristan L'Hermite
:''See also François Tristan l'Hermite''
Tristan l'Hermite (died c. 1478) was a French political and military figure of the late Middle Ages. He was born in Flanders near the beginning of the century.
He was provost of the marshals of the Kin ...
'' (1601–1655)
** ''Mariamne'' (tragedy) 1636
** ''Penthée'' (tragedy) 1637
** ''La Mort de Seneque'' (tragedy) 1644
** ''La Mort de Crispe'' (tragedy) 1645
** ''The Parasite'' 1653
*
Jean Rotrou
Jean Rotrou (21 August 1609 – 28 June 1650) was a French poet and tragedian.
Life
Rotrou was born at Dreux, city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three years ...
(1609–1650)
** ''La Bague de l'oubli'' (comedy) 1629
** ''La Belle Alphrède'' (comedy) 1639
** ''Laure persécutée'' (tragicomedy) 1637
** ''Le Véritable saint Genest'' (tragedy) 1645
** ''Venceslas'' (tragicomedy) 1647
** ''Cosroès'' (tragedy) 1648
*
Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
** ''Mélite'' (comedy) 1629
** ''Clitandre'' (tragicomedy, later changed to tragedy) 1631
** ''La Veuve'' (comedy) 1631
** ''La Place Royale'' (comedy) 1633
** ''Médée'' (tragedy) 1635
** ''L'Illusion comique'' (comedy) 1636
** ''
Le Cid
''Le Cid'' is a five-act French tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille, first performed in December 1636 at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris and published the same year. It is based on Guillén de Castro's play ''Las Mocedades del Cid''. Castro ...
'' (tragicomedy, later changed to tragedy) 1637
** ''Horace'' (tragedy) 1640
** ''Cinna'' (tragedy) 1640
** ''Polyeucte'' ("Christian" tragedy) c.1641
** ''La Mort de Pompée'' (tragedy) 1642
** ''Le Menteur'' (comedy) 1643
** ''Rodogune, princesse des Parthes'' (tragedy) 1644
** ''Héraclius, empereur d'Orient'' (tragedy) 1647
** ''Don Sanche d'Aragon'' ("heroic" comedy) 1649
** ''Nicomède'' (tragedy) 1650
** ''Sertorius'' (tragedy) 1662
** ''Sophonisbe'' (tragedy) 1663
** ''Othon'' (tragedy) 1664
** ''Tite et Bérénice'' ("heroic" comedy) 1670
** ''Suréna, général des Parthes'' (tragedy) 1674
*
Pierre du Ryer (1606–1658)
** ''Lucrèce'' (tragedy) 1636
** ''Alcione'' 1638
** ''Scévola'' (tragedy) 1644
*
Jean Desmarets
Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin (1595 – 28 October 1676) was a French writer and dramatist. He was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1634.
Biography
Born in Paris, Desmarets was introduced ...
(1595–1676)
** ''Les Visionnaires'' (comedy) 1637
** ''Erigone'' (prose tragedy) 1638
** ''Scipion'' (verse tragedy) 1639
*
François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac
François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (4 August 1604 in Paris – 27 July 1676) was a French author and cleric.
The father of François Hédelin was Claude Hédelin, a lawyer at the Parliament, and his mother Catherine Paré, the daughter of the ...
(1604–1676)
** ''La Cyminde'' 1642
** ''La Pucelle d'Orléans'' 1642
** ''Zénobie'' (tragedy) 1647 (written with the intention of affording a model in which the strict rules of the drama were served)
** ''Le Martyre de Sainte Catherine'' (tragedy) 1650
*
Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...
(1610–1660)
** ''Jodelet'' 1645
** ''Don Japhel d'Arménie'' 1653
*
Isaac de Benserade (c.1613–1691)
** ''Cléopâtre'' (tragedy) 1635
Theater under Louis XIV
By the 1660s, classicism had imposed itself on French theater. The key theoretical work on theater from this period was
François Hedelin, abbé d'Aubignac's ''Pratique du théâtre'' (1657), and this work reveals to what degree "French classicism" was willing to modify the rules of classical tragedy to maintain the unities and decorum (d'Aubignac, for example, saw the tragedies of
Oedipus and
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & R ...
as unsuitable for the contemporary stage). Although Pierre Corneille continued to produce tragedies until the end of his life, the works of
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
from the late 1660s on totally eclipsed the late plays of the elder dramatist. Racine's tragedies—inspired by Greek myths,
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
,
Sophocles
Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...
and
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
—condensed their plot into a tight set of passionate and duty-bound conflicts between a small group of noble characters, concentrating on these characters' double-binds and the geometry of their unfulfilled desires and hatreds. Racine's poetic skill was in the representation of
pathos and amorous passion (like
Phèdre
''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris.
Composition and premiere
Wit ...
's love for her stepson); his impact was such that emotional crisis would be the dominant mode of tragedy until the end of the 17th century. Racine's two late plays (''Esther'' and ''Athalie'') opened new doors to Biblical subject matter and the use of theater in the
education of young women.
Tragedy during the last two decades of the 17th century and the first years of the 18th century was dominated by productions of classics from Pierre Corneille and Racine, but on the whole the public's enthusiasm for tragedy had greatly diminished; theatrical tragedy paled beside the dark economic and demographic problems at the end of the 17th century, and the "comedy of manners" (see below) had incorporated many of the moral goals of tragedy. Other later-17th century tragedians include
Claude Boyer,
Michel Le Clerc,
Jacques Pradon
Jacques Pradon, often called Nicolas Pradon (1632 – 14 January 1698), was a French playwright. Early in his career, he was helped by Pierre Corneille and was introduced to the salons at the Hôtel de Nevers and the Hôtel de Bouillon by Mada ...
,
Jean Galbert de Campistron
Jean Galbert de Campistron (3 August 1656 – 11 May 1723) was a French dramatist.
Biography
Campistron was born in Toulouse, France to a noble family.
At the age of seventeen he was wounded in a duel and sent to Paris. Here he became an ardent d ...
,
Jean de La Chapelle, Antoine d'Aubigny de la Fosse, l'abbé Charles-Claude Geneste and
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 January 1674 – 17 June 1762) was a French poet and tragedy, tragedian.
Biography
Crébillon was born in Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was Civil law notary, notary-royal. Having been educated at the ...
. At the end of the 17th century (in Crébillon's plays especially), there occasionally appeared a return to the theatricality of the beginning of the century: multiple episodes, extravagant fear and pity, and the representation of gruesome actions on stage.
Early French opera was especially popular with the royal court during this period, and composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully was extremely prolific (see the composer's article for more on court ballets and opera in this period). These works carried on in the tradition of tragicomedy (especially the ''pièces à machines'') and court ballet, and also occasionally presented tragic plots (or ''tragédies en musique''). Dramatists working with Lully included
Pierre Corneille and
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
but the most important of these librettists was
Philippe Quinault
Philippe Quinault (; 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688), French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris.
Biography
Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of ''Marianne''. Quinault's first play w ...
, a writer of comedies, tragedies, and tragicomedies.
Comedy in the second half of the 17th century was dominated by Molière. A veteran actor, master of farce, slapstick, the Italian and Spanish theater (see above), and "regular" theater modeled on
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the ...
and
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...
, Molière's output was great and varied. He is credited with giving the French
comedy of manners
In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a gr ...
(''comédie de mœurs'') and the comedy of character (''comédie de caractère'') their modern form. His hilarious satires of avaricious fathers, ''
précieuses
The French literary style called ''préciosité'' (, ''preciousness'') arose in the 17th century from the lively conversations and playful word games of ''les précieuses'' (), the intellectual, witty and educated women who frequented the sal ...
'', social parvenues, doctors and pompous literary types were extremely successful, but his comedies on religious hypocrisy (''Tartuffe'') and libertinage (''
Dom Juan
''Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre'' ("Don Juan or The Feast of the Stone tatue) is a five-act 1665 comedy by Molière based upon the Spanish legend of Don Juan Tenorio. The aristocrat Dom Juan is a rake who seduces, marries, and abandons Elvir ...
'') brought him criticism from the church; ''Tartuffe'' was only performed because of the king's intercession. Many of Molière's comedies (like ''Tartuffe'', ''Dom Juan'' and ''
Le Misanthrope
''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (french: Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris b ...
'') veered between farce and the darkest of dramas, and their endings are far from purely comic. Molière's ''Les précieuses ridicules'' was certainly based on an earlier play by Samuel Chappuzeau (best known for his work ''Le Theatre Francois'' (1674), which contains the most detailed description of French theatre during this period).
Comedy until the end of the 17th century would continue on the path traced by Molière; the satire of contemporary morals and manners and the "regular" comedy would predominate, and the last great "comedy" of Louis XIV's reign (
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...
's ''Turcaret'') is a dark play in which almost no character exhibits redeeming traits.
Below is a select list of French theater after 1659:
* Comedies of
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
(pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673)
** ''
Les précieuses ridicules
''Les Précieuses ridicules'' (, ''The Absurd Précieuses'' or ''The Affected Ladies'') is a one-act satire by Molière in prose. It takes aim at the '' précieuses'', the ultra-witty ladies who indulged in lively conversations, word games and, i ...
'' 1659
** ''
L'Ecole des femmes'' 1662
** ''
Tartuffe
''Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite'' (; french: Tartuffe, ou l'Imposteur, ), first performed in 1664, is a theatrical comedy by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical thea ...
'' ou L'Imposteur 1664
** ''
Dom Juan
''Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre'' ("Don Juan or The Feast of the Stone tatue) is a five-act 1665 comedy by Molière based upon the Spanish legend of Don Juan Tenorio. The aristocrat Dom Juan is a rake who seduces, marries, and abandons Elvir ...
'' ou Le festin de pierre 1665
** ''
Le Misanthrope
''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (french: Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris b ...
'' 1666
**''
L'Avare
''The Miser'' (french: L'Avare; ; also known by the longer name ''L'Avare ou L'École du Mensonge,'' meaning The Miser, or the School for Lies) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September 9 ...
'' 1668
** ''
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'' (, translated as ''The Bourgeois Gentleman'', ''The Middle-Class Aristocrat'', or ''The Would-Be Noble'') is a five-act ''comédie-ballet'' – a play intermingled with music, dance and singing – written by Molière ...
'' 1670
** ''
Les Fourberies de Scapin
''Scapin the Schemer'' (french: Les Fourberies de Scapin) is a three-act comedy of intrigue by the French playwright Molière. The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged on 24 May 1671 in ...
'' 1671
** ''
Les Femmes savantes'' 1672
** ''
Le Malade imaginaire
''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' (French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes (H.495, H.49 ...
'' 1673
*
Thomas Corneille
Thomas Corneille (20 August 1625 – 8 December 1709) was a French lexicographer and dramatist.
Biography
Born in Rouen some nineteen years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself e ...
(1625–1709, brother of Pierre Corneille)
** ''Timocrate'' (tragedy) 1659, with the longest run (80 nights) recorded of any play of the 17th century
** ''Ariane'' (tragedy) 1672
** ''Circé'' (tragicomedy) 1675 (cowritten with
Donneau de Visé)
** ''
Psyché
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή).
Psyche may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...
'' (opera) 1678 (in collaboration with Molière and
Jean-Baptiste Lully)
** ''La Devineresse'' (comedy) 1679 (cowritten with Donneau de Visé)
** ''
Bellérophon'' (opera) 1679
** ''
Médée
''Médée'' is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Pierre Corneille in 1635.
Summary
The heroine of the play is the sorceress Médée. After Médée gives Jason twin boys, Jason leaves her for Creusa. Médée ...
'' (tragedy) 1693
*
Philippe Quinault
Philippe Quinault (; 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688), French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris.
Biography
Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of ''Marianne''. Quinault's first play w ...
(1635–1688)
** ''Alceste'' (musical tragedy) 1674
** ''Proserpine'' (musical tragedy) 1680
** ''
Amadis de Gaule'' (musical tragicomedy) 1684, based on the Renaissance chivalric novel
** ''
Armide'' (musical tragicomedy) 1686, based on
Tasso
TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...
's ''
Jerusalem Delivered
''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusad ...
''
*
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
(1639–1699)
** ''
La Thébaïde
''La Thébaïde'' (''The Thebaid'', ''The Thebans'' or ''The Theban Brothers'') is a tragedy in five acts (with respectively 6, 4, 6, 3 and 6 scenes) in verse by Jean Racine first presented, without much success, on June 20, 1664, at the Palais- ...
'' (tragedy) 1664
** ''
Alexandre le Grand
''Alexandre le Grand'' is a tragedy in 5 acts (of 3, 5, 7, 5 and 3 scenes, respectively) and verse by Jean Racine. It was first produced on 4 December 1665 at the Palais Royal Theater in Paris.Date of the premiere and the venue are listed by Josep ...
'' (tragedy) 1665
** ''
Andromaque
''Andromaque'' is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérès ...
'' (tragedy) 1667
** ''
Les plaideurs'' (comedy) 1668, Racine's only comedy
** ''
Brittanicus'' (tragedy) 1669
** ''
Bérénice
''Berenice'' (french: Bérénice) is a five-act tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine. ''Berenice'' was not played often between the 17th and the 20th centuries.
It was premiered on 21 November 1670 by the Comédiens du Roi ...
'' (tragedy) 1670
** ''
Bajazet'' (tragedy) 1672
** ''
Mithridate
Mithridate, also known as mithridatium, mithridatum, or mithridaticum, is a semi-mythical remedy with as many as 65 ingredients, used as an antidote for poisoning, and said to have been created by Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus in the 1st cent ...
'' (tragedy) 1673
** ''
Iphigénie en Aulide'' (tragedy) 1674
** ''
Phèdre
''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris.
Composition and premiere
Wit ...
'' (tragedy) 1677
** ''
Esther
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...
'' (tragedy) 1689
** ''
Athalie
''Athalie'' (, sometimes translated ''Athalia'') is a 1691 play, the final tragedy of Jean Racine, and has been described as the masterpiece of "one of the greatest literary artists known" and the "ripest work" of Racine's genius. Charles Augus ...
'' (tragedy) 1691
*
Jacques Pradon
Jacques Pradon, often called Nicolas Pradon (1632 – 14 January 1698), was a French playwright. Early in his career, he was helped by Pierre Corneille and was introduced to the salons at the Hôtel de Nevers and the Hôtel de Bouillon by Mada ...
(1632–1698)
** ''Pyrame et Thisbé'' (tragedy) 1674
** ''Tamerlan, ou la mort de Bajazet'' (tragedy) 1676
** ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'' (tragedy) 1677; this play, released at the same time as Racine's, enjoyed momentary success
*
Jean-François Regnard
Jean-François Regnard (7 February 1655 – 4 September 1709), "the most distinguished, after Molière, of the comic poets of the seventeenth century", was a dramatist, born in Paris, who is equally famous now for the travel diary he kept of a vo ...
(1655–1709)
** ''Le Joueur'' (comedy) 1696
** ''Le Distrait'' (comedy) 1697
*
Jean Galbert de Campistron
Jean Galbert de Campistron (3 August 1656 – 11 May 1723) was a French dramatist.
Biography
Campistron was born in Toulouse, France to a noble family.
At the age of seventeen he was wounded in a duel and sent to Paris. Here he became an ardent d ...
(1656–1723)
** ''Andronic'' (tragedy) 1685
** ''Tiridate'' (tragedy) 1691
*
Florent Carton Dancourt
Florent Carton aka Dancourt (1 November 16617 December 1725), French dramatist and actor, was born at Fontainebleau. He belonged to a family of rank, and his parents entrusted his education to Pere de la Rue, a Jesuit, who made earnest efforts ...
(1661–1725)
** ''Le Chevalier à la mode'' (comedy) 1687
** ''Les Bourgeoises à la mode'' (comedy) 1693
** ''Les Bourgeoises de qualité'' (comedy) 1700
*
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...
(1668–1747)
** ''Turcaret'' (comedy) 1708
*
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 January 1674 – 17 June 1762) was a French poet and tragedy, tragedian.
Biography
Crébillon was born in Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was Civil law notary, notary-royal. Having been educated at the ...
(1674–1762)
** ''Idomnée'' (tragedy) 1705
** ''Atrée et Thyeste'' (tragedy) 1707
** ''Electre'' (tragedy) 1709
** ''Rhadamiste et Zénobie'' (tragedy) 1711
** ''Xerxes'' (tragedy) 1714
** ''Sémiramis'' (tragedy) 1717
Other genres
Moral and philosophical reflection
The 17th century was dominated by a profound moral and religious fervor unleashed by the
Counter-Reformation. Of all literary works, devotional books were the century's best sellers. New religious organisations swept the country (see, for example, the work of
Saint Vincent de Paul
Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor.
In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After ...
and
Saint Francis de Sales
Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...
). The preacher
Louis Bourdaloue
Louis Bourdaloue (20 August 1632 – 13 May 1704) was a French Jesuit and preacher.
Biography
He was born in Bourges. At the age of sixteen he entered the Society of Jesus, and was appointed successively professor of rhetoric, philosophy ...
(1632–1704) was known for his sermons, and
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
–orator
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627–1704) composed a number of celebrated funeral orations. Nevertheless, the 17th century had a number of writers who were considered "
libertine"; these authors (like
Théophile de Viau (1590–1626) and
Charles de Saint-Evremond (1610–1703)), inspired by
Epicurus and the publication of
Petronius, professed doubts of religious or moral matters during a period of increasingly reactionary religious fervor.
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...
' (1596–1650) ''Discours de la méthode'' (1637) and ''Méditations'' marked a complete break with medieval philosophical reflection.
An outgrowth of counter-reformation Catholicism,
Jansenism
Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...
advocated a profound moral and spiritual interrogation of the soul. This movement would attract writers such as Blaise Pascal and
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) 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 traditi ...
, but would eventually come under attack for heresy (they espoused a doctrine bordering on predestination), and their monastery at
Port-Royal Port Royal is the former capital city of Jamaica.
Port Royal or Port Royale may also refer to:
Institutions
* Port-Royal-des-Champs, an abbey near Paris, France, which spawned influential schools and writers of the 17th century
** Port-Royal A ...
was suppressed.
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a satirist for their cause (in his ''
Lettres provinciales
The ''Lettres provinciales'' (''Provincial letters'') are a series of eighteen letters written by French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte. Written in the midst of the formulary controversy between ...
'' (1656–57)), but his greatest moral and religious work was his unfinished and fragmentary collection of thoughts justifying the Christian religion named ''
Pensées
The ''Pensées'' ("Thoughts") is a collection of fragments written by the French 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal's religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the ''Pensées'' was in many ways h ...
'' (''Thoughts'') (the most famous section being his discussion of the "pari" or "
wager
Wager can refer to:
Gambling
* Wager, the amount of a valuable staked when gambling on an event with an uncertain outcome, with the primary intent of winning money or material goods
* Legal wager, required by both parties at the preliminary heari ...
" on the possible eternity of the soul). Another outgrowth of the religious fervor of the period was
Quietism, which taught practitioners a kind of spiritual meditative state.
François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) wrote a collection of prose entitled ''Maximes'' (''Maxims'') in 1665 which analyzed human actions against a deep moral pessimism.
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère (, , ; 16 August 1645 – 11 May 1696) was a French philosopher and moralist, who was noted for his satire.
Early years
Jean de La Bruyère was born in Paris, in today's Essonne ''département'', in 1645. His family was mi ...
(1645–1696)—inspired by
Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...
's characters—composed his own collection of ''Characters'' (1688), describing contemporary moral types.
François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, King o ...
wrote a number of pedagogical works for the education of the prince.
Pierre Bayle
Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Histori ...
's ''Dictionnaire historique et critique'' (1695–1697; enlarged 1702), with its multiplicity of
marginalia and interpretations, offered a uniquely discursive and multifaceted view of knowledge (distinctly at odds with French classicism); it would be a major inspiration for the
Enlightenment and
Diderot's ''
Encyclopédie
''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...
''. Important Les Femmes and Grief des Dames and Digression about Montaigne's Essays by Madame Marie de Gournay
Mémoires and letters
The 17th century is noted for its biographical "mémoires". The first great outpouring of these comes from the participants of the
Fronde
The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...
(like
Cardinal de Retz
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...
), who used the genre as political justification combined with novelistic adventure.
Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy
Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy (13 April 1618 – 9 April 1693), commonly known as Bussy-Rabutin, was a French memoirist. He was the cousin and frequent correspondent of Madame de Sévigné.
Born at Epiry, near Autun, he represented a fami ...
(known as Bussy-Rabutin) is responsible for the scandalous ''Histoire amoureuse des Gaules'', a series of sketches of amorous intrigues by the chief ladies of the court.
Paul Pellisson, historian to the king, wrote a ''Histoire de Louis XIV'' covering 1660–1670.
Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux
Gédéon Tallemant, Sieur des Réaux (7 November 1619 – 6 November 1692) was a French writer known for his ''Historiettes'', a collection of short biographies.
Biography
Born at La Rochelle, he belonged to a wealthy middle-class Huguenot fa ...
wrote ''Les Historiettes'', a collection of short biographical sketches of his contemporaries.
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac's collected letters are credited with executing (in French prose) a reform paralleling Francois de Malherbe's in verse.
Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to:
* Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French
* Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel
* ''Madame'' ...
's (1626–1696) letters are considered an important document of society and literary events under Louis XIV. The most celebrated mémoires of the 17th century, those of
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, GE (16 January 16752 March 1755), was a French soldier, diplomat, and memoirist. He was born in Paris at the Hôtel Selvois, 6 rue Taranne (demolished in 1876 to make way for the Boulevard Saint-Germain). Th ...
(1675–1755), were not published until over a century later.
we also remember Ninon de Lenclos's Lettres and the little book La Coquette vengée.
Notes
References
General
* Adam, Antoine. ''Histoire de la littérature française au XVIIe siècle.'' First published 1954–56. 3 vols. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997.
* Dandrey, Patrick, ed. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le XVIIe siècle.'' Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1996.
Prose
* Adam, Antoine, ed. ''Romanciers du XVIIe siècle.'' (An anthology). Collection: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1958.
* Coulet, Henri. ''Le roman jusqu'à la Révolution.'' Paris: Colin, 1967.
Poetry
* Allem, Maurice, ed. ''Anthologie poétique française: XVIIe siècle.'' Paris: Garnier Frères, 1966.
Theater
* Scherer, Jacques, ed. ''Théâtre du XVIIe siècle.'' (An anthology). Collection: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1975.
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