Jean Mairet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jean Mairet
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| Born | 10 May 1604 Besançon |
| Died | 31 January 1686 (aged 81) Besançon |
| Nationality | Bisontin |
| Alma mater | Collège des Grassins |
Jean Mairet (born May 10, 1604 – died January 31, 1686) was a famous French writer of plays. He wrote both serious plays called tragedies and funny plays called comedies. He played an important role in shaping French theater during his time.
A Playwright's Life
Jean Mairet was born in a city called Besançon. Around 1625, he moved to Paris to study at a school named Collège des Grassins. In that same year, he wrote his first play, Chryséide et Arimand.
In 1634, Mairet created his most famous play, Sophonisbe. This play was special because it followed strict rules for classical French tragedies. Mairet also helped bring in three important rules for plays: the rules of time, action, and place. These rules meant that a play's story should happen in a short time, focus on one main event, and take place in one location. He got these ideas from reading an old book by a Greek thinker named Aristotle.
Mairet was part of a big argument in the theater world. He strongly disagreed with another famous playwright, Pierre Corneille, about whether plays should follow these strict rules. Corneille's play, Le Cid, broke some of these rules. Mairet wrote several small books criticizing it, and Corneille wrote back. This argument became very famous! Even a powerful leader named Cardinal Richelieu had to step in to calm things down in the theaters.
Perhaps because of this rivalry with Corneille, and after his important supporters passed away, Mairet stopped writing plays for the stage.
In 1648, he became an official representative for his home region, the County of Burgundy. This allowed him to stay in Paris. However, in 1653, another powerful leader, Cardinal Mazarin, made him leave Paris. He was later allowed to return, but in 1668, he went back to Besançon and rarely left his hometown again.
Other Plays
Jean Mairet wrote many other plays during his career:
- La Sylvie, a pastoral tragi-comedy (1626)
- La Silvanire, ou la Morte-vive, which included a detailed introduction about following the rules of plays (1631)
- Les Galanteries du duc d'Ossonne, a comedy (1632)
- La Virginie, a tragi-comedy (1633)
- Le Marc-Antoine, ou la Cléopâtre, a tragedy (1635)
- L'illustre corsaire, a tragi-comedy (1636)
- Le Grand et dernier Solyman, a tragedy (1637)
- L’Illustre corsaire, a tragi-comedy (1640)
- Le Roland furieux, a tragi-comedy (1641)
- L’Athénaïs, a tragi-comedy (1642)
- La Sidonie, a tragi-comedy (1643)
See also
In Spanish: Jean Mairet para niños
