Marin le Roy, sieur du Parc et de Gomberville (1600 – 14 June 1674) was a French

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

. He was born at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and at fourteen he produced a volume of poetry. At twenty he wrote a ''Discours sur l'histoire'' and at twenty-two a pastoral, ''La Charité'', which is really a novel. The characters, though disguised as shepherds and shepherdesses, represent real people for whose identification the author himself provides a key. This was followed by a more ambitious work, ''Polexandre'' (5 vols. 1632–1637). The hero wanders through the world in search of the island home of the princess Alcidiane. It contains much history and geography; the travels of Polexandre extending to such unexpected places as

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

, the Canary Islands,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

, and incidentally we learn all that was then known of Mexican history. ''Cythérée'' (4 vols.) appeared in 1630–1642, and in 1651 the ''Jeune Alcidiane'', intended to undo any harm the earlier novels may have done, for Gomberville became a

Jansenist Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...

and spent the last twenty-five years of his life in pious retirement. He was one of the earliest and most energetic members of the Académie française. In 1646, Gomberville published the first edition of his

emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...

, La Doctrine des Moeurs ("The Doctrine of Morals") based on

Otto van Veen Otto van Veen, also known by his Latinized name Otto Venius or Octavius Vaenius (1556 – 6 May 1629), was a painter, draughtsman, and humanist active primarily in Antwerp and Brussels in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is known for ...

's "Quinti Horatii Flacci Emblemata" 607The Invention of the Emblem Book and the Transmission of Knowledge, ca. 1510–1610, Karl A.E. Enenkel, 2019 Later editions appeared in 1681, 1682, 1683, 1684, 1685, and 1688 (all Paris). The illustrations in the first edition, mirror images of van Veen's, were engraved by Pierre Daret.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomberville, Marin le Roy de 1600 births 1674 deaths Writers from Paris French poets French nobility 17th-century French male writers 17th-century French novelists Members of the Académie Française French male poets French male novelists