Népomucène Lemercier

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Népomucène Lemercier

Louis Jean Népomucène Lemercier (born April 20, 1771 in Paris , † June 7, 1840 ) was a French poet.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Lemercier was able to successfully debut in 1797 with his tragedy Agamemnon, which was kept in the classical style . From this time on he was also a welcome guest in the salons ; especially with Napoléon Bonaparte . It was only when Lemercier made himself unpopular with Napoléon as a free spirit that he was also considered a persona non grata in the other salons . Napoléon is said to have spoken out against Lemercier's works. In 1804, a few days before Napoleon's empire, Lemercier is said to have said to him: "If you restore the bed of the Bourbons, General, you will not sleep in it in ten years."

In 1810 Lemercier was admitted to the Académie française as the successor to the philosopher Jacqus-André Naigeon (armchair 14).

reception

The elegance of Népomucène's verses was praised; the grace of his style and his exuberant imagination. The most notable of his poems is the philosophical satire La Panhypocrisiade, ou la spectacle infernal du XVI. siècle , which Victor Hugo called a literary chimera ; a mixture of epic , farce and satire.

With his work Pinto he wanted to outdo Beaumarchais' The Great Day or Figaro's Wedding , which he did not succeed because it was a somewhat unfortunate mixture of tragedy and comedy , full of innovations in content and form.

His other numerous works received little attention, with the exception of the tragedy Frédégonde et Brunehaut (1821), which was not a lasting success, but contributed to Lemercier being called the father of romanticism, against which he always protested.

Works (selection)

  • Agamemnon . 1797.
  • Quatre métamorphoses . 1800.
  • Panhypocrisiade ou la comédie infernale du XVI. siècle . 1819 (16 songs).
  • Pinto . 1801.

Individual evidence

  1. Short biography and list of works by the Académie française (French)
  2. ^ Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne : The Minister of State. Or secret memoirs about Napoleon, the Directory, the Empire and the Restoration . Eighth volume , Friedrich Brodhag'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 1830, p. 12
  3. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k202690w

Web links