Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
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Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (February 13, 1707 - April 12, 1777), was a French novelist.
Born in Paris, he was the son of a famous tragedian, Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. He received a Jesuit education at the elite school Louis-le-grand. Early on he composed various light works, including plays for the Italian Theatre in Paris, and published a short tale called Le Sylphe in 1730. From 1729 to 1739 he participated in a series of dinners called "Le Caveau" (named after the cabaret where they were held) with other artists, including Alexis Piron, Charles Collé, and Charles Duclos.
The publication of Tanzaï et Neadarne, histoire japonaise (1734), which contained veiled attacks on the Papal bull Unigenitus, the cardinal de Rohan and others, landed him briefly in the prison at Vincennes. His novel Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit was published in 1735 and was although he continued to edit it in 1738, it was never finished. Publication of Le Sopha in 1742 forced him into exile from Paris, which lasted several months.
Around 1744 he entered into a romantic liaison with Lady Henrietta Maria Stafford, daughter of a Jacobite chamberlain, and they were married in 1748. A son born in 1746 died in 1750. Despite financial hardship, they lived harmoniously until her death in 1755. Meanwhile, he published La Nuit et le moment (1745), Ah! quel conte! and Les Heureux Orphelins (1754). Inheriting nothing from Henriette, he was forced to sell his large library in 1757 and eventually found steady income as a royal censor (like his father) in 1759. In 1768 and 1772 he published his last two novels, Lettres de la duchesse de *** au duc de *** and Lettres athéniennes.
Contents |
[edit] Works
- Le Sylphe ou Songe de Madame de R***. Écrit par elle-même à Madame de S*** (1730) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Lettres de la marquise de M*** au comte de R*** (1732)
- Tanzaï et Néadarné (incorrectly known as L'Écumoire, histoire japonaise) (1734) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit ou Mémoires de M. de Meilcour (1736-1738)
- Le Sopha, conte moral (1742) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Le dialogue des morts (1745)
- Les amours de Zéokinisul, roi des Kofirans (1746) (authorship disputed)
- Ah quel conte ! Conte politique et astronomique (1754) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Les Heureux Orphelins, histoire imitée de l'anglais (1754)
- La Nuit et le moment ou les matines de Cythère : dialogue (1755) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Le Hasard du coin du feu. Dialogue moral (1763) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Lettres de la Duchesse de *** au duc de *** (1768) (full text in French on Gallica)
- Lettres athéniennes. Extraites du porte-feuille d'Alcibiade (1771) (full text in French on Gallica)
[edit] References
- Jean Sgard, Crébillon fils, le libertin moraliste, Paris: Desjonquères, 2002.
[edit] External links
[edit] Recent editions
- Standard edition is Œuvres complètes, éd. Jean Sgard, 4 vols., Paris: Classiques Garnier, 1999-2002.
- Lettres de la marquise de M*** au comte de R***, Paris, Desjonquères, 1990.
- Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit, Paris: GF-Flammarion, 1985.
- Le Sopha, Paris, Desjonquères, 1984.
- La Nuit et le moment et Le Hasard du coin du feu, Paris, Desjonquères, 1983.
- La Nuit et le moment, Livre de Poche Classique, 2003.
- Les Heureux Orphelins, Paris, Desjonquères, 1995.
