biography
| name: |
Marmontel, Jean-François
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pronunciation:
[mah(r)montel]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1723–99)
|
| biography:
| Poet, playwright, novelist, and critic, born in Bort-les-Orgues, SC France. A Jesuit, he was brought to Paris by Voltaire in 1745, where he frequented the salons. He wrote mediocre tragedies, but his tales Contes moraux (1761) are more original and were widely imitated. He also composed libretti, including Le Huron (1768) for Grétry and Didou (1783) for Puccini. Other works include two philosophical romances, Bélisaire (1767) and Les Incas (1777). He retired to Normandy at the Revolution, where he wrote the autobiographical Mémoires d'un père (1804), which is a mine of information on the literary world at the end of the Ancien Régime. In 1763 he was elected to the Académie Française, of which he became permanent secretary in 1783. Appointed historiographer of France in 1771, he collaborated on Diderot's Encyclopédie. |
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