Bernard-Joseph Saurin (1706 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 17 November 1781 in Paris) was a lawyer, poet, and playwright.

Biography

Saurin was the son of Joseph Saurin, a converted Protestant minister and mathematician who had been accused in 1712 by Jean-Baptiste Rousseau of being the actual author of defamatory verses that gossip had attributed to Rousseau.Rousseau was prosecuted for defamation of character and condemned to perpetual exile. Attracted to literature, and frequenting the Society of the Caveau, he became a lawyer at Parliament, a career which he did not like, but endured for fifteen years in order to support his family. His professional life in the theatre began when he was forty. Neither his comedy ''Les Trois rivaux'' (''The Three Rivals''), nor his tragedy ''Aménophis'' met with success, which came in 1760 with the tragedy ''Spartacus'' and the comedy ''Les Mœurs du temps'' (''The Manners of the Time''), which were applauded at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

. In the following year, the author was elected a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. He attended the literary cafes and the salons of

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

, Mme de Tencin, Madame Geoffrin and Madame d'Épinay. Friend of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, Saint-Lambert,

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

, Turgot and Helvétius, he could be regarded as one of the philosophers. He translated some English works into French, and saw some of his works translated in turn into English. Among the better known of his plays was ''Béverlei'' (1768), a tragedy.

Works

Theatre

Works are listed chronologically and include links to the text in Gallica at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

when available : * ''Aménophis'', a tragedy which premiered at the

on 12 November 1752 *
Spartacus
', a tragedy which premiered at the Comédie-Française on 20 February 1760, revived in February 1772 and on 20 August 1818 *
Les Mœurs du temps
', a prose comedy in one act, which premiered at the Comédie-Française on 22 December 1760 (It was revived 69 times between 1760 and 1785) * ''Blanche et Guiscard'', in imitation of the English Comedy '' Tancred and Sigismunda'' by James Thomson, was presented for the first time at the Comédie-Française on 25 September 1763 * ''L'Orpheline léguée'', a comedy in 3 acts in free verse, Fontainebleau, Comédiens français ordinaires du Roi, 5 November 1765; Paris, 6 November 1765 *
Béverlei
', in imitation of the English tragedy ''The Gamester'' by Edward Moore, in five acts and in free verse, Paris, Comédiens français, 7 May 1768 * ''L'Anglomane, ou l'Orpheline léguée'', a comedy in one act and in free verse, Fontainebleau, Comédiens français, 5 November 1772; Paris, 23 November 1772 * ''Sophie Francourt'', a prose comedy in 4 acts, Paris, Comédiens italiens ordinaires du Roi, 18 February 1783

Notes

External links

Notice biographique de l'Académie française

Ses pièces de théâtre et leurs représentations
sur le sit
CÉSAR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saurin, Bernard-Joseph Writers from Paris 1706 births 1781 deaths Members of the Académie Française 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French male writers 18th-century French poets French chansonniers