Charles cotine

Charles Cotin (also: Abbé Cotin ) (* 1604 in Paris ; † December 1681 ibid) was a French writer and member of the Académie française .

life and work

Life

Cotine came from a Parisian legal family. He learned Latin, Italian and Spanish, studied the oriental languages ​​(Greek, Hebrew, Syriac) and made an early appearance with publications of philosophical, theological and literary content. He frequented the salon of the Marquise de Rambouillet , where he had the code name Aristée ( Aristaios ). From around 1635 he belonged to the clergy, was almsman of the king and gave fasting sermons in Paris. He was welcomed in the circle of high aristocratic, noble and learned women, especially the Grande Mademoiselle (code name: Clitiphon). In 1655 he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 12), which he attended eagerly. Getting on in years, he became the target of the ridicule of the "young savage" Nicolas Boileau (* 1636) and Molières (* 1622) from around 1665 . Boileau aimed at him in his ninth satire. Molière used his opposition to Gilles Ménage to ridicule him in the Femmes savantes (1672) in the figure of Trissotin (with Vadius-Ménage). He died at the age of 77.

plant

Cotine had popular philosophical ambitions, which were reflected in three works and which have recently been recognized by Andrea Gillert (* 1961). In addition, he wrote Christian poetry all his life, which he collected in editions and commented on theoretically (so 1668). He paraphrased and commented on the Song of Songs of the Old Testament in a special way . After all, there is a lot of casual poetry from the salons that appeared in various editions but has gone under today. Only his riddle poems ( Enigmes ) were re-edited in 2003 by Florence Vuilleumier-Laurens and thus torn from oblivion.

Works (selection)

philosophy

• Discours à Théopompe, sur les Forts Esprits du temps . 1629
• Théoclée, ou la vraye philosophy des principes du monde . 1646
• Traitté de l'Ame immortelle . 1655

Christian poetry

• La Jérusalem désolée , ou Méditation sur les leçons de Ténèbres. 1634.
• Les Poésies chrestiennes contenant les Leçons de ténèbres en vers françois, ou Imitation de Jérémie, avec plusieurs sonnets chrestiens sur la Passion. 1657.
• La Pastorale sacrée ou Paraphrase en vers du Cantique des cantiques selon la lettre . 1662.

Salon seal

• Les Contentemens d'Aristée . 1627.
• Les Regrets d'Aristée . 1631.
• L'Uranie, ou la metamorphose d'une nymphe en orange . Pour Mademoiselle Marguerite duchesse de Rohan. 1659.
• La Ménagerie et quelques autres pièces curieuses. A Son Altesse royale Mademoiselle de Montpensier, princesse de Dombes. The Hague 1666.
• La Satyre des satyres et La Critique désintéressée sur les satyres du temps . 1883. Geneva 1969. (therein: Despréaux ou La Satyre des satyres )
• Les énigmes de ce temps , ed. by Florence Vuilleumier-Laurens. Société des textes français modern, Paris 2003.

literature

• Andrea Gillert: The reception of pagan thought in the work of Charles Cotin. An example of popular philosophical text production in the grand siècle . Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1998 (Diss. Bochum 1997).
• Clara Kunckel: Life and Works of Charles Cotin’s . Heitz, Strasbourg 1914.

Web links

• Information on Charles Cotine in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
• Literature by and about Charles Cotin in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries )
• Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)