Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix (5 February 1698 – 25 August 1776) was an 18th-century French writer and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Life

He served with the

musketeers A musketeer (french: mousquetaire) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare particularly in Europe as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a pr ...

until he was 36, distinguishing himself at

Guastalla Guastalla ( Guastallese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Geography Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around from the citie ...

in 1734. He then left the army and purchased a post as "maître des eaux et forêts" in Rennes. He published his first comedy, ''Pandore'', in 1721 and from 1740 devoted himself entirely to writing, setting up in Paris and becoming a fashionable author there. He wrote 20 comedies in all. In 1764 he was made historian of the ordre du Saint-Esprit. The jurist Auguste-Marie Poullain-Duparc was his brother.

Works

* ''Pandore'' (1721) * ''Lettres d’une Turque à Paris'' (1730), in imitation of the ''

Persian Letters ''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 ...

'' by

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 principa ...

- reissued under the titles ''Lettres de Nedim Koggia'' (1732) and ''Lettres turques'' (1760) * ''L’Oracle'' (1740) * ''Deucalion et Pyrrha'' (1741) * ''L’Île sauvage'' (1743) * ''Le Sylphe'' (1743) * ''Les Grâces'' (1744) * ''Julie'' (1746) * ''Egérie'' (1747) * ''Les Veuves turques'' (1747) * ''Les Métaphores'' (1748) * ''La Colonie'' (1749) * ''Le Rival supposé'' (1749) * ''Les Hommes'' (1753) * ''Essais historiques sur Paris'', 5 vol. (London, 1754–1757) * ''Le Financier'' (1761) * ''Origine de la Maison de France'' (1761) * ''Histoire de l’Ordre du Saint-Esprit'' (1767) * ''Lettres au sujet de l' homme au masque de fer'' (1768)

Sources

* Jean de Viguerie, ''Histoire et dictionnaire du temps des Lumières'',

Robert Laffont The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, "Bouquins" collection, Paris, 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Foix, Germain-François Poullain de 18th-century French historians 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers Historiographers Writers from Brittany Writers from Rennes 1698 births 1776 deaths