The Société du bout du banc, hosted by
Jeanne Quinault
Jeanne Quinault (baptized 13 October 1699 – 18 January 1783)Judith Curtis, ''"Divine Thalie": the career of Jeanne Quinault'', ''SVEC'' 2007:08, pp. 10–11. was a French actress, playwright and salon hostess.
She was usually called Mlle. Quina ...
was one of the most famous
literary salons of the 18th century in France.
Miss Quinault gave dinners at home, rue Sainte-Anne and later rue d'Anjou in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where the best nobility was put on the same footing as poets and artists.
These dinners were held on Mondays, getting together the most enlightened society including
Maurepas Maurepas may refer to:
* Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, French statesman Count of Maurepas (Yvelines)
* Fort Maurepas, also known as Old Biloxi, a settlement in Louisiana (New France)
* Maurepas, Louisiana, an unincorporated commun ...
,
Honoré-Armand de Villars, the Duke of Lauragais, the
duke of Orléans
Duke of Orléans (french: Duc d'Orléans) was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King ...
, the
Grand Prieur d’Orléans, the
marquis de Livry,
Antoine de Ferriol de Pont-de-Veyle – and hommes and femmes de lettres such as
Caylus,
Duclos,
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
,
Piron,
D'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...
,
Voisenon
Voisenon () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department, in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
Little village, located 39 kilometres south-east from the center of Paris, Voisenon was mainly known for its 12th century abbey, and ...
,
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
,
Grimm
Grimm may refer to:
People
* Grimm (surname)
* Brothers Grimm, German linguists
** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist
** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm
* Christian ...
,
Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...
,
Lagrange-Chancel,
Collé,
Moncrif,
Grimod de La Reynière Grimod is a French and Italian surname, held by
* Guido Grimod, mayor of Aosta
* the Grimod du Fort family, counts of Orsay:
** Pierre Grimod du Fort (1692–1748)
** Pierre Gaspard Marie Grimod d'Orsay (1748–1809)
** Albert Gaspard Grimod (1 ...
,
Crébillon fils Crébillon is a French surname. Notable people with that name include:
* Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1674–1762), French poet and tragedian
* Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 February 1707 – 12 Apri ...
,
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 ...
,
Saint-Lambert,
Fagan de Lugny, l’
abbé de La Marre, the chevalier Louis Caron-Destouches,
Pierre-Thomas-Nicolas Hurtaut,
Françoise de Graffigny
Françoise de Graffigny (''née'' Françoise d'Issembourg du Buisson d'Happoncourt; 11 February 1695 – 12 December 1758), better known as Madame de Graffigny, was a French novelist, playwright and salon hostess.
Initially famous as the author o ...
...
Ultimately, the company became so numerous that the dinners had to stand out. Philosophers expelled the poets, gaiety vanished, and the company was dissolved.
Bibliography
* Hellegouarc’h Jacqueline, ''Un atelier littéraire au XVIIIe siècle : la société du bout-du-banc'', ''Revue d'Histoire Littéraire de la France'', 2004, n° 1, p. 59-70
online.
* Hellegouarc’h Jacqueline, ''Ces messieurs du bout-du-banc : L’Eloge de la paresse et du paresseux est-il de Marivaux ?'', ''Revue d'Histoire Littéraire de la France'', 2002, n° 3, p. 455-459
online.
Denis Diderot
Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime
French culture
Meetings