Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin (; 1595 – 28 October 1676) was a French writer and dramatist. He was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 4 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 ...

in 1634.

Biography

Born 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 ...

, Desmarets was introduced to

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

, and became one of the band of writers who carried out the cardinal's literary ideas when he was about thirty years old. His inclination, however, was to writing novels, and the success of his romance ''L'Ariane'' in 1632 led to his formal admission to a circle of writers that met at the house of Valentin Conrart. When this circle later developed into the

, Desmarets became its first chancellor. He was related to Marie Dupré. His success led to official preferment, and he was made ''conseiller du roi'', ''contrôleur-général de l'extraordinaire des guerres'', and secretary-general of the fleet of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

Works

It was at Richelieu's request that he began to write for the theatre. In this genre he produced a comedy long regarded as a masterpiece, ''Les Visionnaires'' (1637), where, slightly disguised, real personages such as Madeleine de Sablé, la marquise de Rambouillet et Madame de Chavigny are staged; a prose-tragedy, ''Erigone'' (1638); and ''Scipion'' (1639), a tragedy in verse. His long epic ''Clovis'' (1657) is noteworthy because Desmarets rejected the traditional

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

background, and maintained that

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

imagery should supplant it. With this standpoint he contributed several works in defence of the moderns in the famous quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns. In his later years Desmarets devoted himself chiefly to producing a number of religious poems, of which the best known is perhaps his verse translation of the ''Office de la Vierge'' (1645). He was an outspoken opponent of the Jansenists, against whom he wrote a ''Réponse à l'insolente apologie de Port-Royal'' (1666). He died in Paris on 28 October 1676.

References

* Jean-Claude Vuillemin, "Jean Desmarets de Saint Sorlin,", in L. Foisneau, ed., '' Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century French Philosophers'', 2 vols. London and New York: Thoemmes Continuum, 2008. I. pp. 355–59. * * H. Rigault (1856). ''Histoire de la querelle des anciens et des modernes'', pp. 80–103. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desmarets, Jean 1595 births 1676 deaths Writers from Paris 17th-century French poets 17th-century French male writers 17th-century French novelists 17th-century French dramatists and playwrights Members of the Académie Française

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links