Author: Jouy, Victor Joseph Etienne de
Biography:
JOUY, Victor Joseph Etienne de (1764-1846: WBIS)
His surname at birth was Etienne; he was the son of Madeleine (Lautour) and Pierre Etienne, born at Jouy, near Versailles--hence "de Jouy." He had first a distinguished and adventurous military career and then an even more distinguished literary one. His commission in the army from about 1782 took him to South America and India and then saw him through the Revolution, when he rose to the rank of adjutant-general. In 1793 he married Isabelle Henriette Walker, daughter of the British novelist known as Mary Hamilton; they appear to have had one daughter. Following unsubstantiated accusations of treason, he resigned his commission and turned to writing. His great successes were as an opera librettist (1807 La vestale, with Spontini; 1829 Guillaume Tell, with Rossini) and tragedian (1821 Sylla) but he was also a journalist and editor, a founder of the Biographie nouvelle and author of successful satirical sketches of life in France and abroad. He was elected to the Académie française in 1815. He later published an annotated edition of his complete works in 27 vols. (1823-8). His wife died in 1830 and he himself, in rooms set aside for his use in the Chateau de St. Germain-en-Laye, in 1846. ("Jouy," Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edn [1911]; académie-française.fr 27 June 2019; Wikipedia 27 June 2019; "Walker, Lady Mary" ODNB 27 June 2019; geneanet.org 27 June 2019) HJ
Other Names:
- E. Jouy
- M. Jouy