Author: Marmontel, Jean-Francois
Biography:
MARMONTEL, Jean-François (1723-99: NBG)
As a foreign author, though one with a popular following in English translation from 1763 onwards, Marmontel requires only a brief headnote. He was born in Bort-les-Orgues in Limousin, France, on 11 Jul. 1723, the son of a tailor, Martin Marmontel, and his wife Marianne Gourdes. He was educated by the Jesuits at Mauriac; after the death of his father in 1741, he moved to Toulouse to further his studies and to earn a living by tutoring. When he at first failed to win a literary competition, he wrote for support to Voltaire, who encouraged him to pursue a literary career in Paris, promised his protection, and remained a good friend until his death in 1778. In Paris Marmontel wrote prodigiously and successfully in several genres: poetry, tragedy, comic opera, prose tales, longer fiction, history, and essays. He wrote most of the articles on poetry and literature for the great Encyclopédie of Diderot and D’Alembert. His best known works are probably the “moral tales” that he wrote initially for publication in the Mercure de France, of which he became the editor in 1758. He was admitted to the Académie française in 1763 and in 1783 became its permanent secretary, succeeding D’Alembert. In 1772 he was named Historiographer of France. In 1786-7 he published his collected works in 17 volumes; another 18 appeared posthumously. Marmontel made a late, apparently happy marriage on 13 Oct. 1777, to the 18-year-old niece of a friend, Marie-Adelaide Leyrin de Montigny (1759-1812); they had five sons, only two of whom outlived their father. During the Revolution he forfeited most of his estate and retired to Abloville (or Habloville) in the Eure, where he died on 31 Dec. 1799. (NBG; fr.wikipédia.org 19 Mar. 2023; Encyclopaedia Britannica [1911]) HJ
Other Names:
- Marmontel