Charles-Jacques-Louis-Auguste Rochette de La Morlière, called "Le Chevalier" , (22 April 1719 – 9 February 1785) was an 18th-century French playwright.
Biography
An unscrupulous schemer, La Morlière first sought the support of the party of
Voltaire, applauding the verse of the master, and when he found himself sufficiently established at
café Procope, became an entrepreneur of success and dramatic falls. Surrounded by a paid gang, he moved to the parterre, giving the signal for applause for authors who had offered him some dinners or a few louis, and the signal for whistles against those from whom he had received nothing. In order to replace the whistle that the police did not always tolerate, he had imagined a sort of protracted yawn that produced a disastrous effect.
Believing himself master of the theater, La Morlière had the idea to use his means of action for his own account and wrote comedies but, despite all the efforts of his cabal, they fell, and with them his influence.
Fréron, who he had attacked, gave him the final blow. Accused of baseness and cowardice and also of relations with the police, he was abandoned by everyone and ended his life in deep poverty.
He was among the regulars of
Marie Anne Doublet
Marie Anne Doublet (23 August 1677 – May 1771), known as Doublet de Persan, Legendre, was a French scholar, writer and salonnière. She was born and died in Paris.
After the death of her husband, Doublet was the friend and possible lover of L ...
's
salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
.
Works (in French original)
*1746: ''Angola, histoire indienne'', 2 vol. in-12,
libertine novel
The libertine novel was an 18th-century literary genre of which the roots lay in the European but mainly French libertine tradition. The genre effectively ended with the French Revolution. Themes of libertine novels were anti-clericalism, anti-e ...
s reminding those of
Crébillon fils.
*1748: ''Les Lauriers ecclésiastiques ou Campagnes de l’abbé de T…'', De l'Imprimerie ordinaire du clergé, Luxuropolis (Paris), 1 vol. in-8.
*1749: ''Mirza-Nadir ou Mémoires et avantures du marquis de St. T***, gouverneur pour le roi de Perse de la ville du pays de Candahar'', The Hague, 4 vol. in-12°
*1752: ''Observations sur la tragédie du duc de Faix, de M. de Voltaire'', in-12°
*1754: ''Le Contrepoison des feuilles ou Lettres sur Fréron'', in-12°
*1769: ''Le Fatalisme ou Collection d’anecdotes pour prouver l’influence du sort sur l’histoire du cœur humain, work dedicated to Mme Du Barry'', 2 vol. in-12°
His comedies in prose ''Le Gouverneur'', three acts (1751), ''La Créole'', one act (1754) and ''L’Amant déguisé'', two acts (1758) seem not to have been printed.
In addition, he collaborated with the ''Anti-feuilles'' by
Bénigne Dujardin
Bénigne Dujardin (1689, Paris – 1771?) was a French writer, historian and translator.
He was received Master of Requests in 1722 but didn't carry this title in 1738, probably because he fell out of favor. He then devoted himself to literature u ...
.
Works (in English translation)
*
*
Sources
*
Gustave Vapereau
Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and lexicographer famous primarily for his dictionaries, the ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'' and the ''Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs''.
Biography
...
, ''Dictionnaire universel des littératures'', Paris, Hachette, 1876, (p. 1178–1179)
* Norbert Crochet: ''Le Chevalier de la Morlière. Angola, histoire indienne (1746)''. 2009, ().
* Jean Louis Fabier: ''Critique d'Angola (1746)''. Complete text, 2009, (). (With a detailed biographical preface)
* Thomas M. Kavanagh: ''Mirroring Pleasure. La Morlières Angola''. In: ''Enlightenment Pleasures: 18th century France and the New Epicureanism.'' Yale University Press, 2012, (), pp. 52–70.
* Octave Uzanne: ''Notices sur la vie et de les œuvres de La Morlière''. Foreword to: ''Contes du Chevalier de La Morlière: Angola.'' Quantin, Paris 1879.
* Charles Monselet: ''Les aveux d'un pamphlétaire''. V. Lecou, Paris, 1854.
* Yong-Mi Quester: ''Frivoler Import : die Rezeption freizügiger französischer Romane in Deutschland (1730 bis 1800) ; with an annotated translation bibliography''. Tübingen : Niemeyer 2006. Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2005
External links
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*
''Dictionnaire des journalistes 1600-1789''
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Morliere, Jacques Rochette de
18th-century French male writers
18th-century French dramatists and playwrights
French erotica writers
1719 births
Writers from Grenoble
1785 deaths