René Le Bossu or (16 March 163114 March 1680) was a French literary critic. Le Bossu was born in

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 ...

, studied at

Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering t ...

, and in 1649 became one of the regular canons of the Abbey of St Genevieve. His published his first book, , in 1674. The book aimed to show that the principles 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

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 ...

were more similar than generally thought. This book was indifferently received. His second book, , was published in 1675 on

epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

. It was highly praised by

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 ...

. Its leading doctrine was that the subject should be chosen before the characters, and that the action should be arranged without reference to the personages who are to figure in the scene. This book was reprinted in several editions, and was translated into English.

Works

* * **English translation:

References

External links

* French literary critics 1631 births 1680 deaths French male non-fiction writers {{France-nonfiction-writer-stub