Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
Prosper Jolyot Crébillon (actually Prosper Jolyot, sieur de Crais - Billon; * January 13, 1674 in Dijon, † June 17, 1762 in Paris) was a French author. It was around 1710 in France as the greatest dramatist of his generation.
Life and work
He was the son of Melchior Jolyot, Seigneur de Crébillon (ca. 1640-1707 ) to a higher judicial officers, Chambre des comptes in Dijon, where the small estate Crais - Billon near the town belonged, whose name he appended after amtsadeliger manner to the actual family name had. His mother was the Geneviève Ganiare (* 1650 ).
Crébillon ( as he called himself later and what's his name in literary history ) began his education at the Jesuit College of Dijon, collège de Jésuites of Godrans and finished it at the Collège Mazarin in Paris. Thereafter, he studied law in Paris and also received approval as a lawyer. But he preferred ago to work as a secretary of a public prosecutor, and enjoyed as a young man's life within the " Basoche " of associations of employees of the high Parisian fare.
After his boss had noticed his passion for the theater and encouraged him to write to Crébillon tried in 1703 as a writer and wrote the tragedy La Mort des enfants de Brutus, which was not accepted. 1705 was Idomenee his breakthrough, he was followed by many other relatively successful historicist tragedies: aTree et Thyeste (1707 ), Électre ( 1708) and Rhadamiste et Zénobie (1711, probably be best piece ).
In 1707 he married Marie- Charlotte inconspicuous Péaget (approx. 1690-1711 ), daughter of a Parisian pharmacist at Place Maubert, which shortly thereafter gave birth to a son: the later writer Claude- Prosper de Jolyot Crébillon.
The specialty and probably also the recipe for success Crebillon in his best years were chilling effects on stage. He leaves a father almost drink the blood of his murdered son of his brother, another figure he can only kill his own son and then himself this he crossed aware of the limits of " bienséance " ( modesty ) of French classicism, which especially Corneille and Racine had set as its worthy successor, he was for a while.
However, with the tragedies of Xerxes (1714 ) and Sémiramis ( 1717) presented a of failure. Crébillon pulled back from the theater disappointed. Financial difficulties (his father had instead of the hoped heritage debts left ) and his early widowhood put him in addition.
It was not until 1726 he was able to return with a new piece: Pyrrhus. Meanwhile passable success allowed him again to gain a foothold in the Parisian literary world. 1731, he was admitted to the Académie française. 1733 he got as a favorite of the theater enthusiastic new mistress Madame de Pompadour by Louis XV. , Appointed to the post of a " royal censor for beautiful spiritual and historical writings ," in 1735 also that of a " police - censor ". In 1745 he also received a " board" ( constant annual payment ) of 1000 livres from the box of the king assigned, so that he was now financially well off.
1748 was his new play Catalina at the expense of the king, Louis XV. listed and pointedly applauded and praised to offend another favorite of Mme de Pompadour, namely Voltaire, who had become the king annoying and just like before in favor of the courtiers. However Crébillon had to experience that Voltaire (of which he was already considered an enemy, after 1742 whose play Mahomet prohibited) took revenge on him, and that he wrote by parallel versions to no less than five of his pieces to their mediocrity and to prove his own superiority.
Crebillon last play, Le triumvirate ( 1754) was unsuccessful.
His son Claude- Prosper (1707-1777), called Crébillon fils is considered by historians of literature as significant for the development of the genre novel in the 18th century.
Works (selection)
- Idomenee, tragedy, December 29, 1705 ( online )
- ATree et Thyeste, tragedy, March 14, 1707 ( online )
- Électre, tragedy, December 14, 1708 ( theater - classique.fr, online)
- Rhadamiste et Zénobie, tragedy, January 23, 1711 ( online )
- Xerxes, tragedy, February 7, 1714
- Sémiramis, Tragedy, April 10, 1717 ( online )
- Pyrrhus, Tragedy, April 29, 1726 ( theater - classique.fr, online)
- Catiline, tragedy, December 20, 1748 ( online )
- Le triumvirate, ou la Mort de Cicéron, tragedy, December 23, 1754
Weblink
- Gert Pinkernell, articles Crébillon in " Names, titles and dates of French literature " (main source of this article )
- Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)