Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux

Gedeon Tallemant of Réaux (* October 2, 1619 in La Rochelle, † November 10, 1692 in Paris) was a French writer.

Life

Gedeon Tallemant was the son of Pierre and his second wife Marie Tallemant Rambouillet. The Tournai originating in Flanders Protestant family was established in 1561 in La Rochelle and was banking and insurance businesses very wealthy.

After a stay in Bordeaux in 1634, the family moved to Paris. Unlike the other members of the family of the young Gedeon had no interest in commercial activities and devoted himself to literature. 1638 he undertook a journey to Rome. On January 14, 1646 he married the twelve year old Élisabeth Rambouillet, his cousin 's daughter. He became a member of the famous literary salon of the Marquise de Rambouillet.

In 1661, they came to the bankruptcy of the house Tallemant. Shortly thereafter, his wife left him, converted to Catholicism and retired to a monastery.

Slowly, the financial situation improved, albeit never the richness of earlier years was achieved. His wife returned to him.

With the change in the political climate of Louis XIV 's life for Protestants became increasingly difficult. By the Edict of Fontainebleau, the Edict of Nantes was revoked on 18 October 1685 which had granted religious freedom to Protestants. Tallemant of Réaux converted already three months in advance to Catholicism. One of his daughters, Charlotte, refused to recant, was arrested and expelled from France.

He died on 10 November 1692 in Paris.

Work

None of his works were printed during his lifetime. He wrote a tragedy, epigrams, Rondeau, and numerous occasional poems. However, he is best known as the author of Historiettes, a collection of anecdotes about his contemporaries. In the preface he calls his goal to report truthfully about everything he was able to find and what's not found in printed works. Numerous personalities from the aristocracy, society, literature and science is devoted to a Historiette: Henry IV, Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu, François de Malherbe, Paul Scarron, François Viète, Blaise Pascal, and many others..

For centuries, the work remained largely unknown to the owner of the original manuscript of 1834/1835 published the first edition. This caused a scandal because of the often unflattering Historiettes contradicted the idealized image of France's " Grand Siècle ". Tallemant of Réaux was dismissed as a slanderer, who on the private life of the Great tried to blacken with these made-up stories.

In the 20th century it was largely rehabilitated, especially through the work of Émile Magne and Antoine Adam, who prepared the edition of Historiettes for the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. By comparison with many other contemporary sources of the truth of many Historiettes could be detected.

Despite so many prejudices, one-sided views of the author, and in spite of factual errors which Historiettes are a source of inestimable value for the history of the 17th century in France.