Pierre de Marivaux facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pierre de Marivaux
Portrait of Marivaux by Louis-Michel van Loo
Born	Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 4 February 1688 (1688-02-04) Paris, France
Died	12 February 1763(1763-02-12) (aged 75) Paris, France
Occupation	Playwright
Nationality	French
Period	Enlightenment
Genre	Romantic comedy

Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (born February 4, 1688 – died February 12, 1763), often called Marivaux, was a famous French playwright and novelist. He is known for writing many comedies for the Comédie-Française and the Comédie-Italienne in Paris.

Some of his most important plays include Le Triomphe de l'amour, Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, and Les Fausses Confidences. He also wrote essays and two important novels that were never finished: La Vie de Marianne and Le Paysan parvenu.

Marivaux's Early Life and Family

Marivaux was born in Paris, France. His father was a financier from Normandy. The family later moved to Limoges and Riom in the Auvergne region, where his father managed the mint.

Marivaux is believed to have written his first play, Le Père prudent et équitable, when he was just eighteen years old. However, it was not published until 1712. In his early years, Marivaux focused more on writing novels than plays.

First Novels and Early Writings

Between 1713 and 1715, he wrote three novels: Effets surprenants de la sympathie, La Voiture embourbée, and Pharsamon (also known as Les Folies romanesques or Le Don Quichotte moderne). These early books were different from his later, more famous works. They were inspired by Spanish adventure stories and older heroic novels.

Marivaux also enjoyed making fun of famous works. For example, he parodied Homer's epic poems. He also updated François Fénelon's Telemachus into Le Telemaque travesti, which he wrote in 1714.

Joining the Mercure Newspaper

His friendship with Antoine Houdar de La Motte helped him get a job at the Mercure, a major newspaper in France. He started writing articles for it in 1717. His writing was praised for its sharp observations and literary skill. This is where his unique writing style, known as "marivaudage," first appeared. This style is known for its playful, flirtatious, and witty dialogue.

In 1742, Marivaux met Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was not yet famous. Marivaux helped Rousseau improve his play, Narcissus.

Marivaux's Personality and Friends

Marivaux was known for being a witty person in conversations. He was very kind but also liked to say strong things. He accepted favors easily but could get upset if he felt disrespected. He was also very sensitive and often criticized the new thinkers of his time, called philosophes. Because of this, Voltaire became his enemy and often spoke badly about him.

Marivaux had many friends, including Claude Adrien Helvétius, Claudine Guérin de Tencin, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, and even Madame de Pompadour. Marivaux had one daughter, who became a nun. The duke of Orleans helped pay for her to join the convent.

Marivaux's Career in Literature

The early 1720s were very important for Marivaux's career. He wrote a comedy called L'Amour et la vérité (now mostly lost) and another play, Arlequin poli par l'amour. He also wrote a tragedy, Annibal, which was not very successful.

Around 1721, he married a woman named Mlle Martin, but she died soon after. He also lost all his inherited money when he invested it in a financial plan called the Mississippi Company. After this, writing became his main way to earn a living.

Working with Theatres and Newspapers

Marivaux worked with two popular theatres in Paris. His play Annibal was performed at the Comédie Française, and Arlequin poli was performed at the Comédie Italienne. He also tried to start his own weekly newspaper, the Spectateur Français, where he wrote all the articles himself. However, he stopped working on it after less than two years.

For almost twenty years, the theatre, especially the Comédie Italienne, was his main source of income. His plays were liked by the actors at the Comédie Française, but they were not often big hits there.

His Most Famous Plays and Novels

Marivaux wrote between 30 and 40 plays. Some of his best include La Surprise de l'amour (1722), Le Triomphe de Plutus (1728), Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard (1730), and Les Fausses Confidences (1737). These were all performed at the Italian theatre. Le Legs (1736) was performed at the French theatre.

He also returned to journalism from time to time. He published a magazine called L'Indigent philosophe in 1727 and another called Le Cabinet du philosophe in 1734. But like his earlier newspaper, these also did not last long.

In 1731, Marivaux published the first parts of his important novel, Marianne. The eleven parts came out over the next eleven years, but the novel was never finished. In 1735, he started another novel, Le Paysan parvenu, but this one was also left unfinished.

Marivaux was chosen to be a member of the Académie française in 1742. This is a very respected group that protects the French language. For the next twenty years, he continued to write for the Mercure and created more plays and reflections. He passed away on February 12, 1763, at the age of seventy-five.

What is Marivaudage?

The term marivaudage is the most important thing to know about Marivaux's writing style. It describes his unique way of writing dialogue. His best comedies are excellent, and his novel Marianne was a very important step in the development of French novels. His novels, Marianne and Le Paysan parvenu, are similar in some ways to the works of English writers like Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding.

In general, Marivaux's plays and novels explore the "metaphysics of love-making." This means his characters often talk about their feelings and thoughts about love in a very detailed and sometimes overly complicated way. As another writer, Claude Prosper Jolyot Crébillon, once said, Marivaux's characters tell the audience everything they have thought, and even what they wish they had thought.

This style uses a lot of metaphors and likes to twist them in unexpected ways. Sometimes, a common phrase is used where more formal language would be expected, and sometimes the opposite happens. Crébillon also said that Marivaux's style brought words together that had never met before and didn't think they would get along. This playful and fancy way of using language has a certain charm. It fits the somewhat unreal and polite way of expressing love and feelings that Marivaux wrote about. Marivaux was also good at showing deep thoughts and observations, and he could create strong emotional moments.

Marivaux's Works

Plays

Novels

• 1713–1714: Les Effets surprenants de la sympathie
• 1714: La Voiture embourbée — an "improvised" novel (roman impromptu)
• 1714: Le Bilboquet
• 1714: Le Télémaque travesti
• 1716–1717: L'Homère travesti ou L'Iliade en vers burlesques
• 1737: Pharsamon ou Les Folies romanesques (Pharsamond, or the New Knight-Errand)

Unfinished Novels

• begun in 1727: La Vie de Marianne (The Life of Marianne)
• begun in 1735: Le Paysan parvenu (The Upstart Peasant)

Film and TV Adaptations of Marivaux's Works

Many of Marivaux's plays and novels have been made into movies and TV shows.

• Triumph of Love, a musical based on his play The Triumph of Love, was performed on Broadway in 1997.
• The Triumph of Love (2001) was an English film based on his play. It starred Mira Sorvino and Ben Kingsley.
• The French film L'Esquive (2003) shows Arab-French teenagers in Paris preparing and performing Marivaux's play Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard.

Other Film and TV Adaptations

• I nostri figli [it], directed by Ugo Falena (Italy, 1914, short film, based on The Game of Love and Chance)
• Monsieur Hector, directed by Maurice Cammage (France, 1940, based on The Game of Love and Chance)
• El juego del amor y del azar [es], directed by Leopoldo Torres Ríos (Argentina, 1944, based on The Game of Love and Chance)
• Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard [fr], directed by Marcel Bluwal (France, 1967, TV film, based on The Game of Love and Chance)
• La Double Inconstance [fr], directed by Marcel Bluwal (France, 1968, TV film, based on Double Inconstancy)
• Caribia – Ein Filmrausch in Stereophonie [de], directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt (West Germany, 1978, based on La Dispute)
• Les Fausses Confidences [fr], directed by Daniel Moosmann [fr] (France, 1984, based on Les Fausses Confidences)
• La Fausse Suivante, directed by Patrice Chéreau (France, 1985, TV film, based on La Fausse Suivante)
• La Vie de Marianne [fr], directed by Benoît Jacquot (France, 1995, TV film, based on La Vie de Marianne)
• False Servant, directed by Benoît Jacquot (France, 2000, based on La Fausse Suivante)

See also

In Spanish: Pierre de Marivaux para niños