Charles Palissot de Montenoy

Charles Palissot de Montenoy (born January 3, 1730 in Nancy , † June 15, 1814 in Paris ) was a French playwright . He is known as an opponent of the encyclopedists , especially Diderot .

Life

The precocious son of a lawyer attended theology lectures after the Jesuit college in Nancy , Collège des Jésuites de Nancy , before studying law in Paris. His piece Les Tuteurs was successfully performed at the Comédie-Française in 1754 . He praises Montesquieu and Voltaire . His poems flattered influential courtiers who gave him a lucrative position in return.

In his comedy Le Cercle (the circle, 1755), Palissot had a philosopher appear who could easily be recognized as Rousseau . Although Rousseau defended Palissot in the ensuing scandal, Palissot saw himself at a distance from the encyclopedists and intensified his attacks.

The climax of the polemics was the comedy Les Philosophes , which premiered on May 2, 1760 at the Comédie-Française. Despite bad reviews (even from journalists who did not sympathize with the encyclopedia) the scandalous play became a huge success. The plot is borrowed from Molière's The Learned Women . But mainly Palissot deals with the ideas and behavior of the scouts. Voltaire, although not attacked himself, responded with the comedy Le Caffé ou l'écossaise . Palissot responded to the open printed letter Les Avis .

Palissot tightened the tone further, but with waning success. The piece Le Satirique was eventually banned. The reasons for this are unclear. Palissot himself had spread that the play did not come from him, but was directed against him. Les Philosophes was performed again in 1782 at the Comédie-Française, but in a defused version.

From 1789 Palissot became an enthusiastic revolutionary, supporter of theophilanthropy , librarian and editor of the works of Voltaire, Nicolas Boileau and Pierre Corneilles .

Bust of Ch. Palissot de Montenoy by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1779), exhibited in the Bibliothèque Mazarine , Paris.

Works (selection)

• Zarès , tragedy, 1751
• Histoire des rois de Rome , 1753–1756
• Les Tuteurs , comedy, 1754
• Le Cercle ou Les Originaux , Comedy, 1755
• Le Barbier de Baghdad , Comedy, 1758
• Les Philosophes , 1760
• Les Avis , 1760
• Tom Jones , 1764
• Éloge de Voltaire , 1778

literature

• Paul Benhamou, Paul: "La Guerre de Palissot contre Diderot". In: Les Ennemies de Diderot . Paris: Klincksieck, 1993, pp. 17-29.
• Daniel Delafarge: La Vie et l'œuvre de Palissot, 1730-1814 (Paris, 1912). Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1971.
• Hervé Guénot: "Palissot de Montenoy, un ennemi de Diderot et des Philosophes". In: Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie , vol. 1, 1986. ( Available online .)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernard Fay: Louis XVI.