César Vichard de Saint-Réal

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César Vichard de Saint-Réal (* 1639 in Chambéry , Savoy , † 1692 ) was a French writer and historian .

Life

Vichard de Saint-Réal was educated at the Jesuit College Clermont in Paris . Antoine Varillas was his role model; he wrote almost exclusively historical novels. His Don Carlos from 1673 was used by Friedrich Schiller as a source for his drama of the same name. In 1674 his book The Spanish Conspiracy Against Venice 1618 was a phenomenal success, although the work is less a work of history than what it claims to be, but contains a number of speculations. It is more of a literary pasticcio in the style of Sallust . This work and his reputation as a free thinker made Hortensia Mancini , Duchesse de Mazarin, aware of him, whose friend he became and with whom he went to England in 1675. The authorship of the Duchess' memoir was probably wrongly attributed to him.

Among his authentic works is a short treatise On Criticism (1691), which turns against Nicolas Andry de Boisregard and his Réflexions sur la langue française (Thoughts on the French Language). His complete works were published in three volumes in 1745; a second edition (1757) reached eight volumes, but this was due to the inclusion of some work incorrectly ascribed to him. Saint-Réal was a fashion writer of his era, as was, for example, the more successful Charles de Saint-Évremond .

Works (selection)

  • De l'Usage de l'histoire (Paris, 1671).
  • Dom Carlos: nouvelle histoirique (Amsterdam: Caspar Commelin, 1672). Historically critical edition ed. by Giorgio Sale [= Il Filarete: Sezione di francesistica 206] (Milano: LED, 2002), ISBN 88-7916-177-6 .
  • Conjuration des Espagnols contre la Republique de Venise, en l'annee M. DC. XVIII (Paris: Barbin, 1674).
  • Mémoires De MLDM [= Hortensia Mancini ] (Cologne: Pierre Marteau , 1675).
  • La Viè de Jesus-Christ (Paris: Guignard, 1179 [or 1679]).
  • De la Valeur (Cologne: LeJeune, 1689).

literature

  • Chantal Carasco, Saint-Réal, romancier de l'histoire: une cohérence esthéthique et morale [Diss.] (Nantes, 2005).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Saint-Réal, César Vichard de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer and historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1639
PLACE OF BIRTH Chambéry , Savoy
DATE OF DEATH 1692