Charles Boileau
Charles Boileau (also: Abbé Boileau ) (* 1648 in Beauvais ; † May 28, 1704 in Paris ) was a French Roman Catholic clergyman, commendate abbot , court preacher and member of the Académie française . He is not to be confused with the Abbé Jacques Boileau (1635-1716), brother of Nicolas Boileau , who was also called Abbé Boileau, but was not a member of the Académie française.
life and work
The preacher
The Abbé Charles Boileau was valued as court preacher by Louis XIV and made Commendatar Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul in Beaulieu-lès-Loches , as well as Prior of the Priory of La Faye in Léguillac-de-l'Auche . He died at the age of 55 in the Saint-Victor Abbey in Paris. His works (sermons, speeches and collected views) were only put to print posthumously. His informal moral doctrine was also translated into German.
The style theorist
In 1694 he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 19) and in his inaugural address he advocated the “style simple” (the simple style) and against the “expressions pompeuses” (the pompous style). He developed this idea further in 1698 when he had to give the welcoming speech for the Abbé Charles-Claude Genest . His description of the recommended rhetoric culminated in the sentence: L'Eloquence se fait sentir, mais ne se fait pas remarquer (The true rhetoric gets under your skin, but it is not noticed).
Works
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Pensées choisies de monsieur l'abbé Boileau ... sur different sujets de morale . Paris 1707. Editions until 1741.
- (German) Extraordinary thoughts about different materials taken outside of the moral doctrine of the ... Abbé de Boileau . Prague 1707, Frankfurt am Main 1737.
- Homélies et sermons prononcés devant le Roi et leurs Majestés britanniques . Edited by Jean Richard. 2 vols. Paris 1712, 1720.
- Panégyriques choisis de feu monsieur l'abbé Boileau . Paris 1718.
- (with others) Sermons choisis de Ch. Boileau, et de La Roche, Hubert, Griffet et Clément . Paris 1830.
Web links
- Information on Charles Boileau in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
- Literature by and about Charles Boileau in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
- Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Boileau, Charles |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Boileau, Abbé |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French Roman Catholic clergyman, abbot , court preacher and member of the Académie française |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1648 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Beauvais |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 1704 |
| Place of death | Paris |