François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut

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François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut (* 1720 in Paris , † 1794 in Paris) was a French teacher, writer and translator in the Age of Enlightenment .

life and work

François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut was born in Paris in 1720. After studying theology, he became prior , then rhetoric teacher at the Collège du Plessis . He is the author of a history book ( Précis de l'histoire universelle , 1766), much appreciated by his contemporaries, a treatise in dialogue form on the art of storytelling ( Essai sur le récit , 1776) and the translator of the Anti-Lucrèce of Melchior de Polignac . Bérardier died in Paris in 1794.

The Essai sur le récit

The Essai sur le récit , published in 1776 , represents an important theoretical reflection on the art of storytelling in the French 18th century. The text inscribes itself in the tradition of the Platonic dialogue : here two characters are talking about the « Ways of telling »in different genres. The dialogues relate to the nature of the narrative and the art of narration in fictional works such as the fable, novel or fairy tale as well as in non-fictional works such as historiography or the oral presentation of an everyday event. The French literary scholar Jean Sgard estimates Bérardier de Bataut as the author of the French 18th century "who dealt most with the nature of narration and its various modalities", even if he advocated a more "traditional doctrine".

The translation of the Anti-Lucrèce

The Anti-Lucrèce , written in modern Latin and verse by Melchior de Polignac (1661–1744), first appeared posthumously in 1747. It met with great success and was translated no less than five times in the 18th and 19th centuries. Bérardier's version of Anti-Lucrèce is as much a didactic poem as it is a work of Christian apologetics : Bérardier uses the translation in verse, which uses all the means of poetry to clarify the argument. He combines them with sometimes longer notes that follow every song and that make it clear in an apologetic dimension that not only Lucretius is contradicted, but above all modern materialism , as represented by numerous thinkers of the Enlightenment .

Works

  • Précis de l'histoire universelle , Paris: Hérissant fils, 1766, in-8 °, XII-383 pages. (A second edition was published by C.-P. Berton in 1776, a third, "revue, corrigée et augmentée par Charles-Constant Letellier", was published by C. Le Tellier in 1823.)
  • Essai sur le récit, ou Entretiens sur la manière de raconter , Paris: C.-P. Berton, 1776, in-12 °, X-725 pages. (See also the commented online edition: edited by Christof Schöch, 2010, URL: www.berardier.org .)
  • L'Anti-Lucrèce en vers françois , traduit par François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut, Paris: C.-P. Berton, 1786. (The work was written in modern Latin by Melchior de Polignac (1661–1744) and was published posthumously in 1747. Its success is reflected in no fewer than five translations into French.)

literature

Bio-bibliographic information

Some bio-bibliographical entries in reference works of the 19th century confuse François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut and the Abbé Denis Bérardier . Only entries that correctly distinguish the two are listed here.

  • Art "Bérardier de Bataut (François-Joseph)", in: Les siècles littéraires de la France, ou nouveau dictionnaire historique, critique et bibliographique , par NLM Desessarts, Paris: Desessarts, an VIII (1800), p. 221.
  • Art. «Bérardier de Bataut (François-Joseph)», in: Dictionnaire universel, historique, critique et bibliographique, neuvième édition , Paris: Prudhomme fils, 1812, tome XIX, supplément, p. 61.
  • Art. "Bérardier de Bataut (François-Joseph)", in: Examen critique et complément des dictionnaires historiques les pas répandus , by Antoine-Alexandre Barbier. Paris: Rey et Gravier, 1820, pp. 100-101.
  • Art. "Bérardier de Bataut (François-Joseph)", in: Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le XVIIIe siècle , nouvelle édition sous la direction de François Moureau, Paris: Le Livre de poche , 1995, p. 173.

Essays

  • Albertan (-Coppola), Sylviane, “La poésie au service de l'apologétique. L'Anti-Lucrèce en vers français de Bérardier de Bataut ”, in: Cahiers Roucher-André Chénier 10-11, 1990-1991, pp. 137-148.
  • Sgard, Jean. "Poétique des vies particulières", in: Les Vies de Voltaire: discours et représentations biographiques, XVIIIe-XXIe siècles , ed. Christophe Cave & Simon Davies. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, SVEC 2008: 4, 2008, p. 29-41. (The section 'Poétique du récit' is almost exclusively devoted to the Essai sur le récit .)

Web links

Wikisource: François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut  - Sources and full texts (French)
  • www.berardier.org : Contains a dossier on the life and work of Bérardier de Bataut (in French).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This biographical information is based on the biographical notes mentioned in the bibliography.
  2. ↑ Jean Sgard, "Poétique of vies particulières", in: Les Vies de Voltaire: discours et représentations Biographiques, XVIIIe-XXIe siècles ., Ed Christophe Cave & Simon Davies. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2008, pp. 29–41, here p. 37. Original quotations: Bérardier de Bataut is "celui qui s'est préoccupé le plus de la nature du récit et de ses differententes modalités". At the same time he keeps the "doctrine traditionnelle".
  3. ↑ Sylviane Albertan (-Coppola), "La poésie au service de l'apologétique. L'Anti-Lucrèce en vers français de Bérardier de Bataut », in: Cahiers Roucher-André Chénier 10-11, 1990-1991, pp. 137-148.
personal data
SURNAME Bérardier de Bataut, François-Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
DATE OF BIRTH 1720
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH 1794
Place of death Paris