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La Bruyère's privileged position at
Chantilly provided him with a unique vantage point from which he could witness the hypocrisy and corruption of the court of Louis XIV. As a Christian moralist, he aimed at reforming people's manners and ways by publishing records of his observations of aristocratic
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appeared, alleged to have been found among his papers, incomplete, and to have been completed by its editor. As these dialogues are far inferior in literary merit to La Bruyère's other works, their genuineness has been denied. A straightforward and circumstantial account of their appearance was given
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are the masters respectively, and lastly of that peculiar seventeenth-century product, the "portrait" or elaborate literary picture of the personal and mental characteristics of an individual. The result was quite unlike anything that had been seen previously, and, it has not been exactly reproduced
684:
The plan of the book is thoroughly original, if that term may be accorded to a novel, and skillful combination of elements exists in it. The treatise of
Theophrastus may have furnished the concept, but it gave little more. With the ethical generalizations and social Dutch paintings accompanying his
728:
These last are the greatest feature of the work and that which gave it its immediate, if not its enduring, popularity. They are wonderfully piquant, extraordinarily lifelike in a certain sense, and must have given great pleasure or (more frequently) exquisite pain to the apparent subjects, who in
641:
a day or two afterward. It is not surprising that, considering contemporary panic about poisoning, the bitter personal enmities that he had excited, and the peculiar circumstances of his death, suspicions of foul play should have been entertained, but there was apparently no foundation for them.
720:
In the titles of his work, and in its extreme desultoriness, La Bruyère reminds the reader of
Montaigne, but he aimed too much at sententiousness to attempt even the apparent continuity of the great essayist. The short paragraphs of which his chapters consist are made up of
665:
these dialogues are designed to further, at so short a time after the alleged author's death, and without a single protest on the part of his friends and representatives, all of which seems to have been decisive in the acceptance of authorship.
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Very little is known of the events of this part—or, indeed, of any part—of his life. The impression derived from the few notices of him is of a silent, observant, but somewhat awkward man, resembling in manners
555:, who were clearly critical of the book. They were joined by innumerable others, men and women of letters as well as of society, who are identifiable by manuscript "keys" compiled by the scribblers of the day.
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His unpopularity was, however, chiefly confined to the subjects of his sarcastic portraiture and to the hack writers of the time, of whom he was wont to speak with a disdain only surpassed by that of
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La Bruyère's discourse of admission at the academy, one of the best of its kind, was, like his admission itself, severely criticized, especially by the partisans of the "Moderns" in the "
623:" (immediately below nothing) is the best-remembered specimen of these unwise attacks; and would, of itself, account for the enmity of the editors, Fontenelle and the younger Corneille.
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La Bruyère died very suddenly, and not long after his admission to the academy. He is said to have been struck dumb in a gathering of his friends, and, being carried home to the
653:, and a few letters mostly addressed to the prince de Condé, complete the list of his literary work, with the addition of one curious, and much-disputed, posthumous treatise.
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proper, of criticisms literary and ethical, and above all, of the celebrated sketches of individuals baptized with names taken from the plays and romances of the time.
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La Bruyère could trace his family back on his father's side at least as far as his great-grandfather, who along with his grandfather had been dedicated members of the
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by the editor, the Abbé du Pin, however. He was a man of acknowledged probity and he knew of the intimacy of La Bruyère with
Bossuet, whose views in his contest with
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It was not until 1693 that he was elected, and even then, an epigram, which, considering his admitted insignificance in conversation, was not of the worst,
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485:. The rest of his life was passed in the household of the Prince or else at court, and he seems to have profited by the inclination that the entire
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of his contemporaries in each new edition of his book, especially in the fourth edition (1689). Those whom he had attacked were powerful in the
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431:, and despite the turmoil in the country, was able to pay for La Bruyère's education and to leave him a considerable sum as an inheritance.
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La Bruyère's father also had been active in the league under the Duke of Guise in 1584. His father was controller general of finance to the
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The friendship of
Bossuet and protection of the Condés sufficiently defended the author, however, and he continued to insert fresh
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He was defeated three times in 1691, and on one memorable occasion, he had but seven votes, five of which were those of
Bossuet,
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since, although the essay of
Addison and Steele resembles it very closely, especially in the introduction of fancy portraits.
466:, was a kind of agent-general for tutorships in the royal family, and, in 1684, who introduced La Bruyère to the household of
1336:
566:, however, and numerous defeats awaited La Bruyère before he could make his way into becoming a member among their ranks.
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appeared in 1688. It garnered numerous enemies, but despite that, most notations about him are favorable—notably that of
79:
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exists, however, in which the writer regrets that "nature has not made La Bruyère as agreeable as he would like to be."
454:, and it is thought that the transaction of the change was the cause of La Bruyère's introduction to the great orator,
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has not been somewhat exaggerated by traditional French criticism, they deserve a high place.
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The description concludes with
Saintsbury's own critical review of de La Bruyère's work.
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1010:. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 30–31.
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The Works of Mons. De La
Bruyere: The characters, or Manners of the age
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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foibles and follies, which earned him many enemies at the court.
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Although it is permissible to doubt whether the value of the
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original, La Bruyère combined the peculiarities of the
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came to the throne and Catholics fell into disfavor.
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many cases were unmistakable and most recognizable.
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954:. Fleet-Street London: J. Whiston & B. White.
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364:; 16 August 1645 – 11 May 1696) was a French
512:generally. A curious passage in a letter by
51:introducing citations to additional sources
16:French philosopher and moralist (1645–1696)
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948:Jean de La Bruyère; Nicholas Rowe (1752).
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477:, as well as to the prince's child-bride,
413:in one word, as evidence of this disdain.
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536:predicted at once, that it would bring "
41:Relevant discussion may be found on the
489:had for the society of men of letters.
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931:The "Characters" of Jean de La Bruyère
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656:Two years after his death, a certain
538:bien des lecteurs et bien des ennemis
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1038:Works by or about Jean de La Bruyère
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468:Louis, Prince of Condé (1621–1686)
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1327:Members of the Académie Française
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130:Painting of Bruyère attributed to
1342:17th-century French male writers
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621:immédiatement au dessous de rien
602:Pour faire un nombre de quarante
543:Foremost among the critics were
458:, who, from the date of his own
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34:relies largely or entirely on a
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549:Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
384:Jean de La Bruyère was born in
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863:Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
850:
819:
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379:
198:17th-century French literature
1:
1185:Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy
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596:"Quand La Bruyère se présente
599:Pourquoi faut il crier haro?
7:
1337:17th-century French writers
1161:Louis René Édouard de Rohan
1121:Pierre Cureau de La Chambre
1053:(public domain audiobooks)
1047:Works by Jean de La Bruyère
1029:Works by Jean de La Bruyère
928:Jean de La Bruyère (1885).
732:
605:Ne falloit il pas un zéro?"
10:
1373:
1113:Marin Cureau de la Chambre
832:Collins English Dictionary
658:Dialogues sur le Quiétisme
397:, in 1645. His family was
361:[ʒɑ̃d(ə)labʁɥijɛʁ]
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613:. His description of the
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934:. London: John C. Nimmo.
372:, who was noted for his
1217:François-Désiré Mathieu
1007:Encyclopædia Britannica
813:Oxford University Press
452:Jacques Benigne Bossuet
442:. He was called to the
434:He was educated by the
1352:French Roman Catholics
133:Nicolas de Largillière
1357:French male essayists
1347:Catholic philosophers
1193:Adolphe-Simonis Empis
809:UK English Dictionary
802:"La Bruyère, Jean de"
637:, to have expired of
481:, a natural child of
440:University of Orléans
1273:Jean-François Deniau
62:"Jean de La Bruyère"
47:improve this article
998:La Bruyère, Jean de
649:, a translation of
534:Nicolas de Malézieu
500:His critical book,
1322:Writers from Paris
1281:Philippe Beaussant
1129:Jean de La Bruyère
1098:Académie française
994:Saintsbury, George
628:Ancient and Modern
564:Académie française
553:Isaac de Benserade
532:appeared in 1688,
528:When La Bruyère's
232:Jean de La Bruyère
218:Académie française
118:Jean de La Bruyère
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1265:Jacques Soustelle
1177:Évariste de Parny
1033:Project Gutenberg
866:. Merriam-Webster
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58:Find sources:
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36:single source
32:This article
30:
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1153:Joseph Séguy
1145:Jacques Adam
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868:. Retrieved
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858:"La Bruyère"
852:
840:. Retrieved
830:
827:"La Bruyère"
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1317:1696 deaths
1312:1645 births
1025:(in French)
630:" quarrel.
506:Saint-Simon
438:and at the
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394:département
380:Early years
366:philosopher
167:11 May 1696
1306:Categories
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502:Caractères
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1332:Aphorists
1023:Biography
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43:talk page
1051:LibriVox
733:See also
639:apoplexy
422:Henry IV
403:crusader
370:moralist
184:Language
1101:seat 36
1040:at the
1004:(ed.).
991::
870:30 July
842:30 July
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697:Pensées
663:Fénelon
571:Boileau
514:Boileau
464:Dauphin
462:of the
456:Bossuet
390:Essonne
357:French:
223:Seat 36
87:scholar
1291:(2018)
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1267:(1983)
1259:(1953)
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1219:(1906)
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1123:(1670)
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