Jean François Sarrazin (; c. 1611 – 5 December 1654), or Sarasin, was a French writer.

Biography

Sarrazin was born at Hermanville, near Caen, the son of Roger Sarasin, treasurer-general 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 educated at Caen, and later settled in Paris. As a writer of ''

vers de société Vers may refer to: Places in France * Vers, Haute-Savoie, a commune in the Haute-Savoie ''département'' * Vers, Lot, a commune in the Lot ''département'' * Vers, Saône-et-Loire, a commune in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Vers-e ...

'' he rivalled Voiture, but he was never admitted to the inner circle of the hôtel de Rambouillet. He was on terms of intimate friendship with Scarron, with whom he exchanged verses, with

Ménage ''Evening Dress'' (, also known as ''Ménage'') is a 1986 French comedy-drama film directed by Bertrand Blier. It was entered into the 1986 Cannes Film Festival where Michel Blanc won the award for Best Actor. Background The idea for ''Tenue d ...

, and with Pellisson. In 1639 he supported

Georges de Scudéry Georges de Scudéry (; 22 August 1601 – 14 May 1667), the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet. Life Georges de Scudéry was born in Le Havre, in Normandy, whither his father had moved from Provenc ...

in his attack on

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage o ...

with a ''Discours de la tragédie''. He accompanied Léon Bouthillier, comte de Chavigny, secretary of state for foreign affairs, on various diplomatic errands. He was to have been sent on an embassy to Rome, but spent the money allotted for the purpose in Paris. This weakened his position with Chavigny, from whom he parted in the winter of 1643–1644. To restore his fallen fortunes he married a rich widow, but the alliance was of short duration. He joined in the pamphlet war against

Pierre de Montmaur Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, against whom he directed his satire, ''Bellum parasiticum'' (1644). He was accused of writing satires on Mazarin, and for a short time gave up the practice of verse. In 1648, supported by the

cardinal de Retz Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

and Madame de Longueville, he entered the household of

Armand de Bourbon, prince de Conti Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (11 October 162926 February 1666), was a French nobleman, the younger son of Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646), Henri II, Prince of Condé and Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, daughter of Henri I de Mont ...

, whose marriage with Mazarin's niece he helped to negotiate. He died of fever at Pézenas, in

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

on 5 December 1654. His biographers have variously stated on inadequate evidence that his death was caused by the prince de Conti in a moment of passion, or that he was poisoned by a jealous husband. The most considerable of his poems were the epic fragments of ''Rollon conquérant, la guerre espagnole'', with ''Dulot vaincu'' and the ''Pompe funèbre'' in honour of Voiture. As a poet he was overrated, but he was the author of two excellent pieces of prose narration, the ''Histoire du siége de Dunkerque'' (1649) and the unfinished ''Conspiration de Walstein'' (1651). The ''Walstein'' has been compared for elegance and simplicity of style to Voltaire's ''Charles XII''. His ''Œuvres'' appeared in 1656, ''Nouvelles Œuvres'' (2 vols.) in 1674. His ''Poésies'' were edited in 1877 by

Octave Uzanne Octave Uzanne (; 14 September 1851 – 31 October 1931) was a 19th-century French bibliophile, writer, publisher, and journalist. He is noted for his literary research on the authors of the 18th century. He published many previously unpubli ...

with an introductory note. Much of his correspondence is preserved in the library of the Arsenal, Paris. See Albert Mennung's ''Jean François Sarasins Leben und Werke'' (2 vols., Halle, 1902–1904).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarrazin, Jean Francois 1610s births 1654 deaths Writers from Normandy French male poets 17th-century French poets French satirists French satirical poets People from the Province of Normandy