Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles ( , , ; 1 April 169725 November 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French priest, author, and novelist.
Life and works
He was born at
Hesdin
Hesdin (; ) is a former Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in northern France. On 1 January 2025, it was merged into the new commune of Hesdin-la-Forêt.
Geography
The N39, from Arras to Montreuil ...
,
Artois
Artois ( , ; ; Picard: ''Artoé;'' English adjective: ''Artesian'') is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km2 and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities include Arras (Dutch: ...
, and first appears with the full name of Prévost d'Exiles, in a letter to the booksellers of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
in 1731. His father, Lievin Prévost, was a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
, and several members of the family had embraced the ecclesiastical estate. His happy childhood ended abruptly, when he lost his mother and his younger favorite sister at the age of 14. Prévost was educated at the
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
school of Hesdin, and in 1713 became a novice of the order in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, pursuing his studies at the same time at the
college in La Flèche.
At the end of 1716 he left the Jesuits to join the army, but soon tired of military life, and returned to Paris in 1719, apparently with the idea of resuming his novitiate. He is said to have travelled in the Netherlands about this time; in any case he returned to the army, this time with a commission. Some biographers have assumed that he suffered some of the misfortunes assigned to his hero Des Grieux. Whatever the truth, he joined the learned community of the
Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
s of
St Maur, with whom he found refuge, he himself says, after the unlucky termination of a love affair. He took his vows at
Jumièges in 1721 after a year's novitiate, and in 1726 took priest's orders at St Germer de Flaix. He spent seven years in various houses of the order, teaching, preaching and studying. In 1728 he was sent to the
Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The co ...
, Paris, where he contributed to the ''
Gallia Christiana
The ''Gallia Christiana'', a type of work of which there have been several editions, is a documentary catalogue or list, with brief historical notices, of all the Catholic dioceses and abbeys of France from the earliest times, also of their occupa ...
'', a work of historiographic documentation undertaken communally by the monks in continuation of the works of , who had been a member of their order. His restless spirit made him seek from the
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
a transfer to the easier rule of Cluny; but he left the abbey without leave (1728), and, learning that his superiors had obtained a ''
lettre de cachet
''Lettres de cachet'' (; ) were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce actions and judgments that could not b ...
'' against him, fled to England.
In London he acquired a wide knowledge of English history and literature, as can be seen in his writings. Before leaving the Benedictines Prévost had begun perhaps his most famous novel, ''Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité qui s'est retiré du monde'', the first four volumes of which were published in Paris in 1728, and two years later at Amsterdam. In 1729 he left England for the Netherlands, where he began to publish (Utrecht, 1731) a novel, the material of which, at least, had been gathered in London, ''Le Philosophe anglais, ou Histoire de Monsieur Cleveland, fils naturel de Cromwell, écrite par lui-même, et traduite de l'anglais par l'auteur des Mémoires d'un homme de qualité'' (1731–1739, 8 vols., Amsterdam and Paris). A spurious fifth volume (Utrecht, 1734) contained attacks on the Jesuits; an English translation the same year ends with this volume.
Meanwhile, during his residence at
the Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, he engaged on a translation of
De Thou's ''Historia'', and, relying on the popularity of his first book, published at Amsterdam a ''Suite'' in three volumes, forming volumes v, vi, and vii of the original ''Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité''. The seventh volume contained the famous ''
Manon Lescaut'', separately published in Paris in 1731 as ''Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut''. The book was eagerly read, chiefly in pirated copies, being forbidden in France. In 1733 he left the Hague for London in company of a lady whose character, according to Prévost's enemies, was doubtful. In London he edited a weekly gazette on the model of
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 May 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with w ...
's ''Spectator'', ''Le Pour et contre'', which he continued to produce in collaboration with the playwright
Charles-Hugues Le Febvre de Saint-Marc, with short intervals, until 1740.
In the autumn of 1734 Prévost was reconciled with the Benedictines, and, returning to France, was received in the Benedictine monastery of La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in the
diocese of Évreux to pass through a new, though brief, novitiate. In 1735 he was dispensed from residence in a monastery by becoming
almoner
An almoner () is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. The title ''almoner'' has to some extent fallen out of use in English, but its equivalents in other languages are often used f ...
to the
Prince de Conti, and in 1754 obtained the . He continued to produce novels and translations from the English, and, with the exception of a brief exile (1741–1742) spent in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
and
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, he resided for the most part at Chantilly until his death, which took place suddenly while he was walking in the neighbouring woods. The cause of his death, the rupture of an
aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward :wikt:bulge, bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also b ...
, is all that is definitely known. Stories of crime and disaster were related of Prévost by his enemies, and diligently repeated, but appear to be apocryphal.
Prévost's other works include:
* ''Le Doyen de Killerine, Killerine, histoire morale composée sur les mémoires d'une illustre famille d'Irlande'' (Paris, 1735; 2nd part, the Hague, 1739, 3rd, 4th and 5th parts, 1740)
* ''Tout pour l'amour'' (1735), a translation of
Dryden's tragedy
* ''Histoire d'une Grecque moderne'' (Amsterdam
aris Aris or ARIS may refer to:
People
* Aris (surname)
Given name
* Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer
* Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player
* Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano
* Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter
* Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect
* ...
2 vols., 1740)
* ''Histoire de Marguerite d'Anjou'' (Amsterdam
aris Aris or ARIS may refer to:
People
* Aris (surname)
Given name
* Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer
* Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player
* Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano
* Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter
* Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect
* ...
2 vols., 1740)
* ''Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire de Malte'' (Amsterdam, 1741)
* ''Campagnes philosophiques, ou mémoires ... contenant l'histoire de la guerre d'Irlande'' (Amsterdam, 1741)
* ''Histoire de Guillaume le Conquérant'' (Paris, 1742)
* ''Voyages du capitaine Robert Lade en differentes parties de l'Afrique, de l'Asie, et de l'Amerique'' (Paris, 1744), a fictional travel journal
* ''Histoire générale des voyages'' (15 vols., Paris, 1746–1759), continued by other writers
* ''Manuel Lexique'' (Paris, 1750), continued by other writers
* Translations (somewhat compacted) from
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: '' Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and '' The Histo ...
: ''Pamela ou la Vertu récompensée'' (1741), ''Lettres anglaises ou Histoire de Miss Clarisse Harlovie'' (1751), from Richardson's ''
Clarissa'', and ''Nouvelles lettres anglaises, ou Histoire du chevalier Grandisson'' (''Sir Charles Grandison'', 1755).
* ''Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire de la vertu'' (1762), from
Mrs Sheridan's ''Memoires of Miss Sidney Bidulph''
* ''Histoire de la maison de Stuart'' (3 vols., 1740) from
Hume's ''History of England to 1688''
* ''Le Monde moral, ou Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire du cœur humain'' (2 vols., Geneva, 1760)
Modern editions
* The standard edition of Prévost's works is ''Œuvres'', dir. Jean Sgard, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 8 vols., 1977–1986.
* There have been many editions of ''
Manon Lescaut'' of which the most recent are by Jean Sgard (Paris: GF-Flammarion, 1995) and Jean Goulemot (Livre de Poche, 2005). The modern English translation by
Helen Waddell (
Heritage Press, 1945 - with illustrations by
Pierre Brissaud), is quite possibly, the most commonly seen English-language edition on the market.
* ''Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité'', Jean Sgard (ed.), Paris: Desjonquères, 1995.
* There is also a separate edition of ''Cleveland'' (i. e., ''Le Philosophe anglais'') by Jean Sgard and Philip Stewart, Paris: Desjonquères, 2003.
* The only complete English translation of ''Cleveland'', entitled ''The English Philosopher, or History of Mr. Cleveland, natural son of Cromwell'', by Philip Stewart (2016)is available in open access on line: http://hdl.handle.net/10161/13014
* ''Histoire d'une Grecque moderne'', ed. Jean Sgard, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1989 ().
*''The Greek Girl's Story'', ed. and trans. Alan J. Singerman, University Park: Penn State UP, 2014.
In the works of others
In
Hubert Monteilhet's novel ''
Murder at the Frankfurt Book Fair'', the protagonist plagiarizes ''Histoire d'une Grecque moderne'' as a practical joke on his obnoxious publisher.
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
* Jean Sgard, ''Prévost romancier'', Paris: José Corti, 1968.
* Jean Sgard, ''Vie de Prévost'', Québec: Presses de l'université Laval, 2006.
* Jean Sgard, ''Vingt études sur Prévost d'Exiles'', Grenoble: Ellug, 1995
* R. A. Francis, ''The abbé Prévost's First-person Narrators'', Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1993.
* Philip Stewart, "L’armature historique du Cleveland de Prévost,” ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'', 137 (1975), p. 121–139.
* Philip Stewart, "Prévost et son ''Cleveland'' : essai de mise au point historique," ''Dix-Huitième Siècle'', 7 (1975), p. 181–208, on line: https://www.persee.fr/doc/dhs_0070-6760_1975_num_7_1_1077
* Philip Stewart,"Sur la conclusion du Cleveland de Prévost : l’influence de la suite apocryphe," ''Revue de Littérature Comparée'', 51 (1977), p. 54–58.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prevost, Abbe
1697 births
1763 deaths
18th-century French journalists
18th-century French novelists
18th-century French translators
English–French translators
French abbots
18th-century Christian abbots
French Benedictines
French historiographers
Latin–French translators
People from Pas-de-Calais
Victims of lettre de cachet