François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (4 August 1604 in Paris – 27 July 1676) was a French author and cleric.
The father of François Hédelin was Claude Hédelin, a lawyer at the Parliament, and his mother Catherine Paré, the daughter of the famous surgeon
Ambroise Paré. After practising some time at
Nemours
Nemours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France.
Geography
Nemours is located on the Loing and its canal, c. south of M ...
, he abandoned law, took holy orders, and was appointed tutor to one of
Richelieu's nephews, the duc de Fronsac. This patronage secured for him the abbeys of Aubignac and of Mainac. The death of the duc de Fronsac in 1646 put an end to hopes of further preferment, and Ambroise Paréd'Aubignac retired to Nemours, occupying himself with literature till his death.
He energetically participated in the literary controversies of his time. Against
Gilles Ménage
Gilles Ménage (; 15 August 1613 – 23 July 1692) was a French scholar.
Biography
He was born at Angers, the son of Guillaume Ménage, king's advocate at Angers. A good memory and enthusiasm for learning carried him quickly through his lite ...
he wrote ''Térence justifié'' (1656); he laid claim to having originated the idea of the ''Carte de tendre'' of
Mlle de Scudéry's ''Clélié''; and after being a professed admirer of
Corneille, he turned against Corneille for having neglected to mention the abbé in his ''Discours sur le poème dramatique''. He was the author of four tragedies: ''La Cyminde'' (1642), ''La Pucelle d'Orléans'' (1642), ''Zénobie'' (1647) and ''Le Martyre de Sainte Catherine'' (1650). ''Zénobie'' was written with the intention of affording a model in which the strict rules of the drama, as understood by the theorists, were served.
In choosing subjects for his plays, d'Aubignac seems to have been guided by a desire to illustrate the various kinds of tragedy—patriotic, antique and religious themes. In return, the dramatic authors whom he was in the habit of criticizing were quick to take advantage of the opportunity for retaliation offered by the production of these plays.
It is as a theorist that d'Aubignac is still remembered. The credit of having been the first to play so large a part in the history of the French stage belongs to
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the '' Grand Siècle'', best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the . Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a literary critic, ...
; but the laws of dramatic method and construction generally were codified by d'Aubignac in his ''Pratique du théâtre''. The book was only published in 1657, but he had begun writing it under Richelieu's urging as early as 1640.
His ''Conjectures académiques ou dissertation sur l'Iliade d'Homère'', which was not published until nearly forty years after his death, threw doubts on the existence of
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
, and anticipated in some sense the conclusions of
Friedrich August Wolf in his ''Prolegomena ad Homerum'' (1795).
The contents of the ''
Pratique du théâtre'' were summarized by
Ferdinand Brunetière in his notice of d'Aubignac in the ''Grande Encyclopédie''. See also
G Saintsbury, ''Hist. of Criticism'', bk v., and Hippolyte Rigault, ''Histoire de la querelle des anciens et modernes'' (1859).
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedelin, Francois
1604 births
1676 deaths
Writers from Paris
17th-century French dramatists and playwrights
17th-century French male writers