Author: Corneille
Biography:
CORNEILLE, Pierre (1609-84: DLB)
A prior author, his best-known play, Le Cid, was translated into English and published by “a gentleman, formerly a captain in the army” in 1802. The translation attracted negative reviews which compare it unfavourably with the French original; The Poetical Register declared that “the carcase of Corneille is here but the soul that inspired it is flown.” Corneille was born on 6 June 1606 in Rouen, France, to Pierre Corneille and his wife Marthe le Pesant de Bois-Guilbert. He was educated at a Jesuit school before training to be a lawyer; he received his law degree in 1624. Corneille began working for the government in Rouen but he was already writing plays and the first of his plays to be performed, Mélite, ou Les Fausses, dates from 1629-30. Until about 1636 he focused on writing comedies. Le Cid was the second of his tragicomedies and it made his name when it was first performed in 1636-37. It also attracted controversy and Corneille was censured by the Académie Française. Frustrated by this response, Corneille did not write another play until Horace in 1640. In 1641 he married Marie de Lampérière; they had eight children (one died in infancy). In 1660 a 3-volume edition of his plays was published; it included all twenty-three of his plays to date and Corneille’s writings on dramatic criticism. In 1662 he moved to Paris where he continued writing and collaborated with Molière on a ballet tragicomedy (1671). He wrote his last play in 1674 and during the final decade of his life he composed only occasional verses. Corneille died in Paris on 1 Oct. 1684 and was buried in Saint-Foch, his parish church. (DLB online 23 Apr. 2024; Wikipedia 23 Apr. 2024; Poetical Register 5 [Jan. 1803], 450-51) SR