Pierre de Marivaux
Encyclopedia
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (February 4, 1688 – February 12, 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French
novelist and dramatist.
He is considered one of the most important French
playwright
s of the 18th century, writing numerous comedies
for the Comédie-Française
and the Comédie-Italienne
of Paris. His most important works are Le Triomphe de l'amour, Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard
and Les Fausses Confidences
. He also published a number of essays and two important but unfinished
novels, La Vie de Marianne
and Le Paysan parvenu
.
financier whose real name was Carlet, but who assumed the surname of Chamblain, and then that of Marivaux. He brought up his family in Limoges
and Riom
, in the province of Auvergne
, where he directed the mint.
Marivaux is said to have written his first play, the Père prudent et équitable, when he was only eighteen, but it was not published till 1712, when he was twenty-four. However, the young Marivaux concentrated more on writing novels than plays. In the three years from 1713 to 1715 he produced three novels--Effets surprenants de la sympathie; La Voiture embourbée, and a book which had three titles--Pharsamon, Les Folies romanesques, and Le Don Quichotte moderne. These books are very different from his later, more famous pieces: they are inspired by Spanish romances and the heroic novels of the preceding century, with a certain intermixture of the marvellous.
Then Marivaux's literary ardour took a new phase. He parodied Homer
to serve the cause of Antoine Houdar de La Motte
, (1672–1731) an ingenious paradoxer; Marivaux had already done something similar for François Fénelon
, whose Telemachus he parodied and updated as Le Telemaque travesti (written in 1714 but not published until 1736). His friendship with
Antoine Houdar de La Motte
introduced him to the Mercure, the chief newspaper of France, and he started writing articles for it in 1717. His work was noted for its keen observation and literary skill. His work showed the first signs of "marivaudage," which now signifies the flirtatious bantering tone characteristic of Marivaux's dialogues.
Marivaux is reputed to have been a witty conversationalist, with a somewhat contradictory personality. He was extremely good-natured, but fond of saying very severe things, unhesitating in his acceptance of favours (he drew a regular annuity from Claude Adrien Helvétius
), but exceedingly touchy if he thought himself in any way slighted. He was, though a great cultivator of sensibility and unsparingly criticized the rising philosophes. Perhaps for this reason, Voltaire
became his enemy and often disparaged him. Marivaux' friends included Helvétius, Claudine Guérin de Tencin
, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
and even Madame de Pompadour
(who allegedly provided him with a pension). Marivaux had one daughter, who became a nun; the duke of Orleans, the regent's successor, furnished her with her dowry.
, and an unsuccessful tragedy, Annibal (printed 1737). In about 1721, he married a Mlle Martin, but she died shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, he lost all of his inheritance money when he invested it in the Mississippi scheme. His pen now became almost his sole resource.
Marivaux had a connection with both the fashionable theatres: Annibal had played at the Comédie Française and Arlequin poli at the Comédie Italienne. He also endeavoured to start a weekly newspaper, the Spectateur Français, to which he was the sole contributor. But his irregular work ethic killed the paper after less than two years. Thus, for nearly twenty years the theatre, especially the Comédie Italienne, was Marivaux's chief support. His plays were well-received by the actors of the Comédie Française, but were rarely successful there.
Marivaux wrote between 30 and 40 plays, the best of which are the Surprise de l'amour (1722), the Triomphe de Plutus (1728), Jeu de l'amour et du hasard (1730) (The Game of Love and Chance), Les Fausses confidences (1737), all produced at the Italian theatre, and Le Legs (1736), produced at the French. At intervals, he returned to journalism: a periodical publication
called L'Indigent philosophe appeared in 1727, and another called Le Cabinet du philosophe in 1734. But the same causes which had proved fatal to the Spectateur prevented these later efforts from succeeding.
In 1731 Marivaux published the first two parts of his great novel, Marianne. The eleven parts appeared at intervals over the next eleven years, but the novel was never finished. In 1735 another novel, Le Paysan parvenu, was begun, but this also was left unfinished. Marivaux was elected a member of the Académie française
in 1742. For the next twenty years, he contributed occasionally to the Mercure, wrote plays and reflections (which were seldom of much worth), and so forth. He died on the 12th February 1763, aged seventy-five.
and Henry Fielding
. In general, Marivaux's subject matter is the so-called "metaphysic of love-making." As Claude Prosper Jolyot Crébillon
said, Marivaux's characters not only tell each other and the reader everything they have thought, but everything that they would like to persuade themselves that they have thought.
This style derives mainly from Fontenelle and the Précieuses, though there are traces of it even in Jean de La Bruyère
. It abuses metaphor somewhat, and delights to turn off a metaphor in an unexpected and bizarre fashion. Sometimes a familiar phrase is used where dignified language would be expected; sometimes the reverse. Crébilllon also described Marivaux's style as an introduction of words to each other, which have never made acquaintance and which think that they will not get on together (this phrase is itself rather Marivaux-esque). This kind of writing, of course, recurs at several periods of literature, especially at the end of the 19th century. This fantastic embroidery of language has a certain charm, and suits the somewhat unreal gallantry and sensibility which it describes and exhibits. Marivaux possessed, moreover, both thought and observation, besides considerable command of pathos.
in 2001 as The Triumph of Love
, starring Mira Sorvino
, Ben Kingsley
, and Fiona Shaw
. It is, so far, the only one of Marivaux's plays to ever be filmed in English (there have been many French film and television
adaptations of his plays). The film received modestly favourable reviews, but was not a box office
success. A 1997 musical stage adaptation
had a brief Broadway
run.
In the French film L'Esquive
(2003), directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, Arab-French adolescents in a Paris suburb prepare and perform Marivaux's play Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
novelist and dramatist.
He is considered one of the most important French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
s of the 18th century, writing numerous comedies
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
for the Comédie-Française
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....
and the Comédie-Italienne
Comédie-Italienne
Over time, there have been several buildings and several theatrical companies named the "Théâtre-Italien" or the "Comédie-Italienne" in Paris. Following the times, the theatre has shown both plays and operas...
of Paris. His most important works are Le Triomphe de l'amour, Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard
Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard
The Game of Love and Chance is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. The Game of Love and Chance was first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a young woman is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of...
and Les Fausses Confidences
Les Fausses Confidences
Les Fausses Confidences is a play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux....
. He also published a number of essays and two important but unfinished
Unfinished work
An unfinished work is creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of their control such as death. Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have...
novels, La Vie de Marianne
La Vie de Marianne
La Vie de Marianne is an unfinished novel by Pierre de Marivaux.The novel was written in sections, eleven of which appeared between 1731 and 1745...
and Le Paysan parvenu
Le Paysan parvenu
Le Paysan parvenu is an unfinished novel by Pierre de Marivaux. It was written in 1735 and an ending was added by another writer. The work is supposedly the original for subsequent tales of poor boys of a heroic nature who have "made good"...
.
Life
His father was a NormanNormandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
financier whose real name was Carlet, but who assumed the surname of Chamblain, and then that of Marivaux. He brought up his family in Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
and Riom
Riom
Riom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:Until the French Revolution, Riom was the capital of the province of Auvergne, and the seat of the dukes of Auvergne. The city was of Gaulish origin, the Roman Ricomagus...
, in the province of Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
, where he directed the mint.
Marivaux is said to have written his first play, the Père prudent et équitable, when he was only eighteen, but it was not published till 1712, when he was twenty-four. However, the young Marivaux concentrated more on writing novels than plays. In the three years from 1713 to 1715 he produced three novels--Effets surprenants de la sympathie; La Voiture embourbée, and a book which had three titles--Pharsamon, Les Folies romanesques, and Le Don Quichotte moderne. These books are very different from his later, more famous pieces: they are inspired by Spanish romances and the heroic novels of the preceding century, with a certain intermixture of the marvellous.
Then Marivaux's literary ardour took a new phase. He parodied Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
to serve the cause of Antoine Houdar de La Motte
Antoine Houdar de la Motte
Antoine Houdar de la Motte was a French author.He was born and died in Paris. In 1693 his comedy, Les Originaux, was a complete failure, and so depressed the author that he contemplated joining the Trappists. Four years later he began writing texts for operas and ballets, e.g...
, (1672–1731) an ingenious paradoxer; Marivaux had already done something similar for François Fénelon
François Fénelon
François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, more commonly known as François Fénelon , was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer...
, whose Telemachus he parodied and updated as Le Telemaque travesti (written in 1714 but not published until 1736). His friendship with
Antoine Houdar de La Motte
Antoine Houdar de la Motte
Antoine Houdar de la Motte was a French author.He was born and died in Paris. In 1693 his comedy, Les Originaux, was a complete failure, and so depressed the author that he contemplated joining the Trappists. Four years later he began writing texts for operas and ballets, e.g...
introduced him to the Mercure, the chief newspaper of France, and he started writing articles for it in 1717. His work was noted for its keen observation and literary skill. His work showed the first signs of "marivaudage," which now signifies the flirtatious bantering tone characteristic of Marivaux's dialogues.
Marivaux is reputed to have been a witty conversationalist, with a somewhat contradictory personality. He was extremely good-natured, but fond of saying very severe things, unhesitating in his acceptance of favours (he drew a regular annuity from Claude Adrien Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher and littérateur.-Life:...
), but exceedingly touchy if he thought himself in any way slighted. He was, though a great cultivator of sensibility and unsparingly criticized the rising philosophes. Perhaps for this reason, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
became his enemy and often disparaged him. Marivaux' friends included Helvétius, Claudine Guérin de Tencin
Claudine Guérin de Tencin
Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin was a French salonist and author. She was the mother of Jean le Rond d'Alembert, philosophe and contributor to the Encyclopédie.- Early life :...
, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle , also called Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a French author.Fontenelle was born in Rouen, France and died in Paris just one month before his 100th birthday. His mother was the sister of great French dramatists Pierre and Thomas Corneille...
and even Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
(who allegedly provided him with a pension). Marivaux had one daughter, who became a nun; the duke of Orleans, the regent's successor, furnished her with her dowry.
Literary career
The early 1720s were very important for Marivaux; he wrote a comedy (now mostly lost) called L'Amour et la vérité, another comedy, Arlequin poli par l'amourArlequin poli par l'amour
Arlequin poli par l'amour is a one-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. Its title could be translated into English as Harlequin, refined by love. Arlequin poli par l'amour was first performed 17 October 1720 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a fairy tries to force Arlequin to...
, and an unsuccessful tragedy, Annibal (printed 1737). In about 1721, he married a Mlle Martin, but she died shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, he lost all of his inheritance money when he invested it in the Mississippi scheme. His pen now became almost his sole resource.
Marivaux had a connection with both the fashionable theatres: Annibal had played at the Comédie Française and Arlequin poli at the Comédie Italienne. He also endeavoured to start a weekly newspaper, the Spectateur Français, to which he was the sole contributor. But his irregular work ethic killed the paper after less than two years. Thus, for nearly twenty years the theatre, especially the Comédie Italienne, was Marivaux's chief support. His plays were well-received by the actors of the Comédie Française, but were rarely successful there.
Marivaux wrote between 30 and 40 plays, the best of which are the Surprise de l'amour (1722), the Triomphe de Plutus (1728), Jeu de l'amour et du hasard (1730) (The Game of Love and Chance), Les Fausses confidences (1737), all produced at the Italian theatre, and Le Legs (1736), produced at the French. At intervals, he returned to journalism: a periodical publication
Periodical publication
Periodical literature is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar examples are the newspaper, often published daily, or weekly; or the magazine, typically published weekly, monthly or as a quarterly...
called L'Indigent philosophe appeared in 1727, and another called Le Cabinet du philosophe in 1734. But the same causes which had proved fatal to the Spectateur prevented these later efforts from succeeding.
In 1731 Marivaux published the first two parts of his great novel, Marianne. The eleven parts appeared at intervals over the next eleven years, but the novel was never finished. In 1735 another novel, Le Paysan parvenu, was begun, but this also was left unfinished. Marivaux was elected a member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1742. For the next twenty years, he contributed occasionally to the Mercure, wrote plays and reflections (which were seldom of much worth), and so forth. He died on the 12th February 1763, aged seventy-five.
Marivaudage
The so-called Marivaudage is the main point of importance about Marivaux's literary work, though the best of the comedies have great merits, and Marianne is an extremely important step in the development of the French novel. It, and Le Paysan parvenu, have some connection to the work of Samuel RichardsonSamuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
and Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
. In general, Marivaux's subject matter is the so-called "metaphysic of love-making." As Claude Prosper Jolyot Crébillon
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon was a French poet and tragedian.-Life and works:He was born in Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was notary-royal. Having been educated at the Jesuit school in the town, and afterwards at the Collège Mazarin. He became an advocate, and was placed in the office...
said, Marivaux's characters not only tell each other and the reader everything they have thought, but everything that they would like to persuade themselves that they have thought.
This style derives mainly from Fontenelle and the Précieuses, though there are traces of it even in Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère was a French essayist and moralist.-Ancestry:He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan in 1645...
. It abuses metaphor somewhat, and delights to turn off a metaphor in an unexpected and bizarre fashion. Sometimes a familiar phrase is used where dignified language would be expected; sometimes the reverse. Crébilllon also described Marivaux's style as an introduction of words to each other, which have never made acquaintance and which think that they will not get on together (this phrase is itself rather Marivaux-esque). This kind of writing, of course, recurs at several periods of literature, especially at the end of the 19th century. This fantastic embroidery of language has a certain charm, and suits the somewhat unreal gallantry and sensibility which it describes and exhibits. Marivaux possessed, moreover, both thought and observation, besides considerable command of pathos.
Plays
- Le Père prudent et équitable (17061706 in literatureThe year 1706 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Daniel Defoe is sent to Edinburgh as a government agent.* Philosopher Samuel Clarke attacks the views of Henry Dodwell on the immortality of the soul....
), or more likely 17121712 in literatureThe year 1712 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Lady Mary Pierrepont elopes with Edward Wortley Montagu.* Fire destroys William Bowyer's printing press.* Henry St...
. - L'Amour et la Vérité (17201720 in literatureThe year 1720 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*October - The South Sea Bubble began to burst. Its collapse will affect the fortunes of many writers and occupy many works of literature....
) - Arlequin poli par l'amourArlequin poli par l'amourArlequin poli par l'amour is a one-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. Its title could be translated into English as Harlequin, refined by love. Arlequin poli par l'amour was first performed 17 October 1720 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a fairy tries to force Arlequin to...
(17201720 in literatureThe year 1720 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*October - The South Sea Bubble began to burst. Its collapse will affect the fortunes of many writers and occupy many works of literature....
) - AnnibalAnnibal (Marivaux)Annibal is a play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux....
(17201720 in literatureThe year 1720 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*October - The South Sea Bubble began to burst. Its collapse will affect the fortunes of many writers and occupy many works of literature....
), his only tragedy - La Surprise de l'amourLa Surprise de l'amourLa Surprise de l'amour is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. Its title is usually translated into English as The Surprise of Love. La Surprise de l'amour was first performed 3 May 1722 by the Comédie Italienne at the Hotel de Bourgogne in Paris...
(17221722 in literatureThe year 1722 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire and Jean-Baptiste Rousseau meet and quarrel at Brussels.* Ten-year-old Jean-Jacques Rousseau is abandoned by his father, Isaac....
) - La Double InconstanceLa Double InconstanceLa Double Inconstance is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. Its title is usually translated into English as The Double Inconsistency. La Double Inconstance was first performed 6 April 1723 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a young woman is kidnapped from her lover by...
(17231723 in literatureThe year 1723 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire contracts smallpox.* The book collection of Samuel Pepys is transferred to the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge.-New books:...
) - Le Prince travesti (17241724 in literatureThe year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies, Escapes, &c. of John Sheppard The year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies,...
) - La Fausse SuivanteLa Fausse SuivanteLa Fausse Suivante, or Le Fourbe Puni is a play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux written in 1724, and produced for the first time by the Comédie-Italienneon the July 8 1724 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne....
ou Le Fourbe puni (17241724 in literatureThe year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies, Escapes, &c. of John Sheppard The year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies,...
) - Le Dénouement imprévu (17241724 in literatureThe year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies, Escapes, &c. of John Sheppard The year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies,...
) - L'Île des esclavesL'Île des esclavesL’Île des esclaves is a one act comedy by Pierre de Marivaux. It was presented for the first time on March 5, 1725 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne by the Comédie Italienne....
(17251725 in literatureThe year 1725 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Émilie de Breteuil marries Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet....
) - L'Héritier de village (17251725 in literatureThe year 1725 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Émilie de Breteuil marries Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet....
) - Mahomet secondMahomet secondMahomet second is an unfinished tragedy in one act and five scenes in prose, written by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux circa 1733 and first published in the journal Mercure de France in 1747.- Origin :...
(1726 ? unfinished prose tragedy) - L'Île de la raisonL'Île de la raisonThe Island of reason or the little men is a social comedy in three acts and in prose by french playwright Pierre de Marivaux, represented for the first time the 11 September 1727 by the Comédie-Française.- Analysis :...
ou Les petits hommes (17271727 in literatureThe year 1727 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Richard Savage is arrested for the murder of James Sinclair in a drunken quarrel...
) - La Seconde Surprise de l'amour (17271727 in literatureThe year 1727 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Richard Savage is arrested for the murder of James Sinclair in a drunken quarrel...
) - Le Triomphe de Plutus (17281728 in literatureThe year 1728 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal is founded by Daniel Defoe and Henry Baker*Jonathan Swift and Thomas Sheridan launch The Intelligencer ....
) - La Nouvelle ColonieLa Nouvelle ColonieLa Nouvelle Colonie or La Ligue des Femmes is a comedy in three acts and in prose written by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux. It was first performed on June 18 1729 by the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne....
(17291729 in literatureThe year 1729 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion was performed for the first time....
), lost and then rewritten in 17501750 in literatureThe year 1750 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Tobias Smollett travels in France, collecting material for The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle....
with the title of La Colonie - Le Jeu de l'Amour et du HasardLe Jeu de l'Amour et du HasardThe Game of Love and Chance is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. The Game of Love and Chance was first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a young woman is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of...
(17301730 in literatureThe year 1730 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire's Brutus is finally staged.* Colley Cibber becomes Poet Laureate of Great Britain.* Metastasio settles in Vienna....
) - La Réunion des Amours (17311731 in literatureThe year 1731 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - The Life of Mr. Cleveland, Natural Son of Oliver Cromwell* Corporate authorship - The Gentleman's Magazine...
) - Le Triomphe de l'amour (17321732 in literatureThe year 1732 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac, by Benjamin Franklin, is published....
) - Les Serments indiscrets (17321732 in literatureThe year 1732 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac, by Benjamin Franklin, is published....
) - L'École des mères (17321732 in literatureThe year 1732 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac, by Benjamin Franklin, is published....
) - L'Heureux Stratagème (17331733 in literatureThe year 1733 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Antoine François Prévost arrives in London, where he will edit Le Pour et centre....
) - La MépriseLa Méprise (Marivaux)La Méprise is a comedy in one act and in prose, written by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux and first performed on August 6 1734 by the Comédie-Italienne at the théâtre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne.- Characters :* Clarice...
(17341734 in literatureThe year 1734 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Manoel da Assumpcam begins writing his grammar of the Bengali language....
) - Le Petit-Maître corrigé (17341734 in literatureThe year 1734 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Manoel da Assumpcam begins writing his grammar of the Bengali language....
) - Le Chemin de la fortune (17341734 in literatureThe year 1734 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Manoel da Assumpcam begins writing his grammar of the Bengali language....
) - La Mère confidente (17351735 in literatureThe year 1735 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Samuel Johnson marries Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, twenty years his senior....
) - Le Legs (17361736 in literatureThe year 1736 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - The Life of Marianne The year 1736 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - The Life of Marianne The year 1736 in literature involved some significant...
) - Les Fausses ConfidencesLes Fausses ConfidencesLes Fausses Confidences is a play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux....
(17371737 in literatureThe year 1737 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 21 - The Theatrical Licensing Act is passed, introducing censorship to the London stage. Plays now require approval before production...
) - La Joie imprévue (17381738 in literatureThe year 1738 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Robert Blair marries Isabella Law.* Beginning of the mental decline of Jonathan Swift.* Laurence Sterne is ordained....
) - Les SincèresLes SincèresLes Sincères is a 1739 play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux. Ity is a comedy in one act, represented first by the Comédiens-Italiens on 13 January 1739 at the Hotel de Bourgogne . The play involves two couples, a master and his mistress, and a valet and a maid.- Characters:* La marquise*...
(17391739 in literatureThe year 1739 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* War between the United Kingdom and Spain begins.* Celebrity hanging of Dick Turpin.* Handel's Saul performed....
) - L'ÉpreuveL'ÉpreuveL'Épreuve is a one-act play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux presented for the first time on November 19th, 1740.L'Épreuve is considered to be one of the finest gems of Marivaux and was often reproduced...
(17401740 in literatureThe year 1740 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*John Cleland returns to Britain from government service in India.* Accession of Frederick the Great in Prussia.* Beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession....
) - La Commère (17411741 in literatureThe year 1741 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*David Garrick packs theatres with his performance as Shakespeare's Richard III.* The American Magazine begins publication by Andrew Bedford.-New books:...
) - La DisputeLa DisputeLa Dispute is a prose comedy written by Pierre de Marivaux, shown for the first time on 19 October 1744 by the Theatre-Italien in the Hotel de Bourgogne....
(17441744 in literatureThe year 1744 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*May 29 - Alexander Pope is received into the Roman Catholic faith, a day before his death.*Samuel Foote makes his debut as an actor....
) - Le Préjugé vaincuLe Préjugé vaincuLe Préjugé vaincu is a play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux.Le Préjugé vaincu is a comedy in one Act, prose, by Marivaux first performed on the 6th July 1746 by the King's Ordinary Actors in the theatre of the rue des Fossés Saint-Germain....
(17461746 in literatureThe year 1746 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire is elected to the French Academy.* The oldest manuscript of Jean de Joinville's Life of Saint Louis is rediscovered in Brussels....
) - La ColonieLa ColonieLa Colonie is a comedy by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux, published in 1750 in the journal Mercure de France.When it was first performed at the Comédie-Italienne on June 18 1729, La Nouvelle Colonie did not gather success and was only staged once. Marivaux cancelled all the shows and did not...
(17501750 in literatureThe year 1750 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Tobias Smollett travels in France, collecting material for The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle....
) - La Femme fidèle (17501750 in literatureThe year 1750 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Tobias Smollett travels in France, collecting material for The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle....
) - FélicieFélicieFélicie is a play by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux....
(17571757 in literatureSee also: 1756 in literature, other events of 1757, 1758 in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:*May 6 - Christopher Smart is admitted to St...
) - Les Acteurs de bonne foiLes Acteurs de bonne foiLes Acteurs de bonne foi is a comedy in one act and in prose written by French playwright Pierre de Marivaux and performed for the first time on October 30 1749.Les Acteurs de bonne foi was produced by the Comédie-Française but it was not a success...
(17571757 in literatureSee also: 1756 in literature, other events of 1757, 1758 in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:*May 6 - Christopher Smart is admitted to St...
) - La ProvincialeLa provincialeLa provinciale can refer to:* La provinciale , a 1953 Italian film * La provinciale , a 1981 French-Swiss film...
(17611761 in literatureSee also: 1760 in literature, other events of 1761, 1762 in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:* On the death of Johann Matthias Gesner, the chair of rhetoric at the University of Göttingen is refused by both Johann August Ernesti and by David Ruhnken...
)
Journals and Essays
- Lettres sur les habitants de Paris (17171717 in literatureThe year 1717 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire is sentenced to eleven months in the Bastille and is banished from Paris for criticizing the Duc D'Orléans...
–17181718 in literatureThe year 1718 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 1 - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu writes the last of her Turkish Letters, addressed to Alexander Pope....
) - Lettres contenant une aventure
- Pensées sur differents sujets
- Le Spectateur français (17211721 in literatureThe year 1721 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Around this time , inoculation for smallpox began in England....
–17241724 in literatureThe year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies, Escapes, &c. of John Sheppard The year 1724 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:* Anonymous - A Narrative of All the Robberies,...
) - L'Indigent philosophe (17261726 in literatureThe year 1726 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire arrives for a 3 year stay in England.* Lavinia Fenton makes her debut as Monimia in Thomas Otway's The Orphan at the Haymarket Theatre....
) - Le Cabinet du philosophe (17341734 in literatureThe year 1734 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Manoel da Assumpcam begins writing his grammar of the Bengali language....
)
Novels
- Les Effets surprenants de la sympathie (17131713 in literatureThe year 1713 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Scriblerus Club is formed in London by Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, Thomas Parnell, Robert Harley, Henry St...
–17141714 in literatureThe year 1714 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir Samuel Garth, poet and royal physician, is knighted by King George I of Great Britain...
) - La Voiture embourbée (17141714 in literatureThe year 1714 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir Samuel Garth, poet and royal physician, is knighted by King George I of Great Britain...
) — an "improvised" novel (roman impromptu) - Le Bilboquet (17141714 in literatureThe year 1714 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir Samuel Garth, poet and royal physician, is knighted by King George I of Great Britain...
) - Le Télémaque travesti (17141714 in literatureThe year 1714 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir Samuel Garth, poet and royal physician, is knighted by King George I of Great Britain...
) - L'Homère travesti ou L'Iliade en vers burlesques (17161716 in literatureThe year 1716 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Anne Lefèvre, Madame Dacier, meets Antoine Houdar de la Motte in person.*Voltaire is exiled to Tulle.*Poet John Byrom returns to England to teach his own system of shorthand....
–17171717 in literatureThe year 1717 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Voltaire is sentenced to eleven months in the Bastille and is banished from Paris for criticizing the Duc D'Orléans...
) - Pharsamon ou Les Folies romanesques (17371737 in literatureThe year 1737 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 21 - The Theatrical Licensing Act is passed, introducing censorship to the London stage. Plays now require approval before production...
)
Unfinished Novels
- La Vie de MarianneLa Vie de MarianneLa Vie de Marianne is an unfinished novel by Pierre de Marivaux.The novel was written in sections, eleven of which appeared between 1731 and 1745...
(begun in 17271727 in literatureThe year 1727 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Richard Savage is arrested for the murder of James Sinclair in a drunken quarrel...
) - Le Paysan parvenuLe Paysan parvenuLe Paysan parvenu is an unfinished novel by Pierre de Marivaux. It was written in 1735 and an ending was added by another writer. The work is supposedly the original for subsequent tales of poor boys of a heroic nature who have "made good"...
(begun in 17351735 in literatureThe year 1735 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Samuel Johnson marries Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, twenty years his senior....
)
Adaptations
Marivaux's play Le Triomphe de l'amour (1732) was filmed in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in 2001 as The Triumph of Love
The Triumph of Love
The Triumph of Love is a 2001 romantic comedy film, based on Marivaux's play Le Triomphe de l'amour , directed by Clare Peploe, produced by her husband Bernardo Bertolucci, and starring Mira Sorvino and Ben Kingsley...
, starring Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino
Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
, Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, and Fiona Shaw
Fiona Shaw
Fiona Shaw, CBE is an Irish actress and theatre director. Although to international audiences she is probably most familiar for her minor role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films, she is an accomplished classical actress...
. It is, so far, the only one of Marivaux's plays to ever be filmed in English (there have been many French film and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
adaptations of his plays). The film received modestly favourable reviews, but was not a box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
success. A 1997 musical stage adaptation
Triumph of Love
Triumph of Love is a musical with a book by James Magruder, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, and music by Jeffrey Stock.Resembling a chamber musical more than a traditional book musical, it is based on the 1732 Pierre de Marivaux commedia dell'arte play Le Triomphe de l'Amour and centers on Spartan...
had a brief Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
run.
In the French film L'Esquive
Games of Love and Chance
Games of Love and Chance is a 2003 French drama film directed by Abdel Kechiche and starring Sara Forestier. It won the César Award for Best Film, Best Director, Best Writing and Most Promising Actress....
(2003), directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, Arab-French adolescents in a Paris suburb prepare and perform Marivaux's play Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard
Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard
The Game of Love and Chance is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. The Game of Love and Chance was first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a young woman is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of...
.
External links
- Biography, Bibliography, Analysis, Plot overview (in French)
- Bibliography, Analysis of L'Ile des esclaves (in French)