Giovanni Paolo Marana or sometimes Jean-Paul Marana (1642 - 1693) was a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, best remembered for his conviction for failing to reveal a conspiracy to cede the Genoese town of Savona to the Duchy of Savoy.

Biography

Marana was born in Genoa to a wealthy family. In 1672, Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy, sought to expand his domains by occupying the town of Savona. For this purpose, he enlisted Raffaele Della Torre, a condotierre, who hired men, many unsalacious, to betray the town from within. Marana apparently knew of the plot, but failed to inform the authorities, causing his imprisonment for four years. In prison, he worked on the translation of the complete works of

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 ...

, as well as an encoded system of writing. Once released, he moved to France, where he was pensioned by King Louis XIV, a ally of Savoy. He returned to Italy in 1689. He published in 1682 a chronicle of the ''Congiura de Rafaello della Torre''.

Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy

Marana is the author of ''

Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy ''Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy'' (french: L'Espion Turc) is an eight-volume collection of fictional letters claiming to have been written by an Ottoman spy named "Mahmut", in the French court of Louis XIV. Authorship and publication It is agre ...

'', an

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 ...

which judges the history and manners of Europe and especially of France of his time, from an Oriental perspective.Billaud, p. 267 This book was published in Italian in 1684 and in French in 1686. The French writer and philosopher

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 ...

also drew on this book in his ''

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 ...

'', an epistolary novel published in 1721 criticizing the existing

absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...

in France at his own time.

Works

* ''

'' * ''La Congiura di Raffaello della Torre con le mosse della Savoia contro la Republica di Genova'', In Lione : Alla spese dell'auctore, 1682. (in Italian) * ''Lettre d'un Sicilien à un de ses amis'' (Letter of a Sicilian to one of his friends), Paris, A. Quantin, 1883.
Read online
(in French) * ''L'espion du Grand-Seigneur, et ses relations secrètes envoyées au divan de Constantinople, et découvertes à Paris, pendant le règne de Louis le Grand: contenant les événements les plus considérables arrivés pendant la vie de Louis le Grand'', Amsterdam: H. Wetstein and H. Des Bordes, 1684. (in French) * ''Dialogo fra Genova, et Algieri, città fulminate dal Giove Gallico'', Amsterdamo : Desbordes, 1685.
Read online
(in Italian) * ''Dialogue De Genes et d'Algers Villes foudroyées, Par les Armes Invincibles de Louis Le Grand L'Année 1684 : Avec plusieurs particularitez historiques touchant le juste ressentiment de ce Monarque, et ses prétensions sur la Ville de Genes, avec les réponces des Genois'', Amsterdam: Desbordes, 1685. (the previous book in French)

Notes and references

* French Wikipedia page for Giovanni Paolo Marana

Bibliography

*Isabelle Billaud and Marie-Catherine Laperrière, ''Représentations du corps sous l'Ancien Régime: discours et pratiques'', Presses Université Laval, 2007.
Giovanni Paolo Marana

Rosalind Ballaster Rosalind Ballaster (born 1962 in Bombay) is a scholar of 18th-century literature and a specialist in Georgian theatre. A Professor at Mansfield College, Oxford, she is a winner of the British Academy's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for 2006. Life Ros ...

, ''Fables of the East: selected tales, 1662-1785'', Oxford University Press, 2005. *Roland Mortier et Hervé Hasquin, ''Etudes sur le XVIIIe siècle'', Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1974. , p. 27 ss. *Gian Carlo Roscioni, ''Sulle tracce dell'esploratore turco'', Milano, Rizzoli, 1992

External links

* Salvatore Rotta
''Marana''
biblioteca dell’egoista.
online works of Giovanni Paolo Marana
in

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marana, Giovanni Paolo 1642 births 1693 deaths 17th-century Italian writers 17th-century French male writers Writers from Genoa French male novelists 17th-century French novelists Italian male novelists Nobility from Genoa