Labruyere, Jean de

Jean de Labruyere was born in 1645 near Paris in the family of the general controller of the rent of the Paris municipality, Jean de Labruyere. Thanks to the financial support of his uncle, he received an excellent education for his time. ^[one]

He was the tutor of the Duke of Bourbon , the grandson of the Great Conde ^[2] , at whose court he retained his place even after the marriage of his student. Life in the midst of the splendor of the court gave Labruyere the opportunity to observe the development of human passions, excited by the pursuit of earthly goods, ambition, intrigue , proximity to the "greats of this world." Labruyere used these observations for literary purposes, but in life he kept himself away from people among whom he was forced to rotate, and suffered greatly from his dependent position in the house of Conde.

Having learned to give up everything and restrain his feelings and impulses, he found pleasure only in reading and working. He put on his life experience in the form of thoughts, epigrams, and brief portraits. So a little book was compiled, little by little, to publish which he proposed, as if jokingly, to his friend, the bookseller Mishall. The latter took a chance on the publication and earned 300,000 francs on it.

The first edition of Labruyer's book was published in 1687, under the modest title: “Les Caractères de Théophraste, traduits du grec, avec les Caractères ou les Moeurs de ce siècle”; the success of the book was enormous, and the author, encouraged by this, added new thoughts and new portraits to each new edition. In 1694, the 8th, final edition was published, which included the speech of Labruyere at the French Academy , of which he was elected a member in 1693.

Labruyère's “Caractères,” the only work of his life, consists of 16 chapters, two of which are devoted to church eloquence and free-thinking; here Labruyer is a Christian believer, an opponent of atheists and skeptics. In all other chapters, Labruyere does not touch upon either religious or purely philosophical questions. He does not bring his ideals to life, but applies the measure of existing conditions to the actions and characters of people. An integral world outlook, a philosophical system, cannot be found in his book; he shows only the ridiculous side of some fashion, the vileness of one or another vice, the injustice of any opinion, the futility of human feelings - but these scattered thoughts are not reduced to one basic idea. In the field of everyday observations, Labruyere discovers a greater subtlety of understanding, notes the nuances of feelings and relationships; the chapter on the heart testifies to how much tenderness and love lurked in this contemplator. Many of his characteristics are written in a fierce, sarcastic tone; the author, obviously, suffered a lot from the prejudices of society, and Ten, not without reason, compares him in this regard with J. Zh. Rousseau . The peculiarity of the book of Labruyere is portraits: these are integral types and dramatic episodes. Especially famous are the types of Emirs - an arrogant coquette, Gnaton - a repulsive egoist, Menalk - an absent-minded person, Fedon - a humiliated poor man. All these portraits reveal a rich imagination in Labruyere, the ability to enhance characteristics with an abundance of life details, tremendous skill and color of the language. Contemporaries recognized in most portraits of various prominent people of that time, and until now the historical interest of Labruyer's books is significant, due to the accuracy of the depiction of people and morals of the era; but even higher is its psychological, universal interest and its purely literary virtues.

According to Emil Zola : “Reading the“ Characters ”makes you think, but even more - smile; sometimes you wonder at the subtleties of the author’s observations, at the depth of some of his thoughts; he likes him because he has no preconceived opinions, he has no system, and he is not looking for another way to teach us virtue except to describe our weaknesses and shortcomings ” ^[3] .

• Vengerova Z. A. Labruer, Jean // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Chuyko, Vladimir Viktorovich . French Theophrastus (inaccessible link) / Observer magazine, No. 1, 1891.
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• Suard, Notice sur L. ( 1781 )
• Vict. Fabre, Éloge de L.
• Chateaubriand, “Genie du Christ.” (3 hours)
• Sainte-Beuve, Portraits Litt éraires, Lundis, Nouveaux Lundis. Caboche, "L." ( 1844 )
• Walckenaër, Études et Remarques sur L. (ed. 1845 )
• Silvestre de Sacy, “Vari étés morales et littéraires”
• Taine, "Nouveaux Essais de Critique et d'Histoire" ( 1865 )
• Vinet, “Moralistes des XVI et XVII s.”; Prevost-Paradol, Moralistes français ( 1865 )
• Damien, Études sur L. et Malebranche ( 1866 )
• Fournier, "La Comé die de L. etc.". "Characters" were translated into Russian by N. Ilyin (M., 1812 ).