Jean Chaplain ( fr. Jean Chapelain , December 4, 1595 , Paris - February 22, 1674 , ibid.) - French poet and literary critic of the XVII century .
| Jean Chaplain | |
|---|---|
| fr Jean Chapelain | |
 | |
| Date of Birth | December 4, 1595 |
| Place of Birth | Paris |
| Date of death | February 22, 1674 (78 years) |
| Place of death | Paris |
| Citizenship | France |
| Occupation | poet , literary critic |
| Language of Works | French |
Content
Biography and literary-critical works
The son of a notary . At a young age, he studied Latin and Greek , and then Spanish and Italian . Gained fame and location of Cardinal Richelieu thanks to his preface to Marino 's poem “Adonis” ( L'Adone ), first published in Paris in 1623. Later, he firmly stood on the classicist positions, from this preface, which contained a compromise solution to the problem of “pleasure” and "good" in art, Chaplain sought to renounce.
He visited the hotel Rambouillet , maintained friendly relations with Montosier , Retz , Madame de Sevigne . After the death of the cardinal, he was close to Colbert , to whom he supplied lists of French and foreign writers worthy of a royal pension.
Elected in 1634 a member of the French Academy (chair number 7), he came to the idea of the need to compile a dictionary of French and, on the instructions of the cardinal, made a plan for an academic dictionary, the performance of which glorified the academy.
Chaplaine's treatise letter “Justification of the twenty-four hour rule ...” ( Demostration de la Regle des Vingt-Quatre heures , 1630) was an important step in the formation of normative classic aesthetics . In collaboration with Valentin Conrar Chaplaine, on behalf of Richelieu, he compiled a review of Corneille's Academy ( Sentiments de l'Academie Francoise sur la trage-comedie Le Cid , 1637). In this review, Chaplaine sought to give a balanced assessment of the tragicomedy, to reconcile the criticism of the play (which Richelieu demanded) with praises to the famous playwright.
Chaplaine is also the author of the treatise "On the reading of old novels" ( De la lecture des vieux romans , published in 1870) and the translation into French of the plutonic novel Mateo Alemán "Gusman of Alfarache" (1619-1620).
Poetic and epistolary heritage
Chaplaine's poems - odes (including Ode to Richelieu, Ode a Richelieu , 1633), sonnets and madrigals - had considerable success. Excessive praise (Chaplaine was compared with Homer and Virgil ) prompted the poet to take up the heroic epic , the heroine of which he chose Jeanne d'Arc ( La Pucelle ou la France delivree , the first 12 songs published in 1656 , the rest - in 1882 ).
In several months, six editions were sold out, but the readers' disappointment was equal to their initial impatience, and the poisonous criticism from Boileau , Racine , La Fontaine and Moliere completed the literary death of the epic. A parody of Chaplaine (with an ironic introduction to the "singer of this miraculous maiden") was the famous frivolous-satirical " Orlean Virgin " by Voltaire . Pushkin mentioned the name of Chaplaine in the nominal sense, as a symbol of bad poetry.
Chaplain's literary opinions are preserved in his letters, including to the Dutch writer and diplomat (who visited Moscow with the mission) Nicholas Heinzius.
Literature
- Chaplain, Jean // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Talleman de Reo. Chaplain // Entertaining stories / Per. with fr. A. A. Engelke. - L .: Science. Leningrad branch, 1974. - p. 164-173. - (Literary monuments).
- J. Chaplaine. Justification of the twenty-four hour rule and refutation of objections. Opinion of the French Academy about the tragicomedy "Cid" // Literary manifestos of Western European classicists. - M .: MSU. - 1980. - p. 265-298.
- Collas J. Jean Chapelain, 1595–1674. Etude historique et littéraire d'après des documents inédits. - Paris: 1912; repr. Genève: 1970.
- Chapelain J. Les Lettres authentiques à Nicolas Heinsius, 1649–1672. - Paris: 2005.