François-Henri Turpin (1709–1799) was a French
man of letters
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...
.
Life
He was born at
Caen
Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...
. He was first a professor at the
university of his native town, then went to seek his fortunes 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 ...
, where he made some stir in philosophical circles, and especially in that of the magnificent
Helvetius; but he was only able to earn a livelihood with difficulty by putting his pen at the service of the booksellers. He translated, or rather adapted from the English, Edward W Montague's ''Histoire du gouvernement des anciennes républiques'' (1768), and wrote a continuation of
Father Pierre Joseph d'Orléans, ''Histoire des revolutions d'Angleterre'' (1786).
His ''Histoire naturelle et civile du royaume de Siam'' (1771) chronicles the observations of a
vicar-apostolic who had lived in
Siam
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
for many years. His chief work, ''La France illustre, ou Le Plutarque français'', contains the biographies of generals, ministers, and eminent officers of the law (5 vols, 1777–1790), in which, however, as
La Harpe said, he showed himself to be "ni Plutarque ni Français" ("neither Plutarch nor French"). He also wrote an ''Histoire des hommes publics tires du tiers etat'' (1789).
References
Attribution:
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Turpin, Francois
1709 births
1799 deaths
Writers from Caen
Academic staff of the University of Caen Normandy
French male writers