biography
| name: |
Restif, Nicolas Edme
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| |
known as Restif de la Bretonne
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pronunciation:
[resteef]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1734–1806)
|
| biography:
| Novelist, born in Sacy, C France. His many voluminous and licentious novels include La Famille vertueuse (1767), Le Pornographe (1769), Le Paysan perverti ou les dangers de la ville (1775, The Perverted Peasant), La Vie de mon père (1779), and Les Nuits de Paris (1788–94). They give a vividly truthful picture of 18th-c French life, and entitle him to be considered as a forerunner of Realism. His own not unsullied life he recalled in the 16-volume Monsieur Nicolas ou le coeur humain dévoilé (1794–7). Described as the ‘Voltaire des femmes de chambre’, this reforming philanthropist in many ways was a precursor of Balzac. He also wrote on social reform. The original editions of his books are curiosities because of their splendid illustrations and strange typography. |
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