Editing Pierre de Marivaux

{{Short description|French playwright and novelist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Pierre de Marivaux
| image            = Pierre de Marivaux.jpeg
| caption          = Portrait of Marivaux by [[Louis-Michel van Loo]]
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_date       = {{birth-date|4 February 1688}}
| birth_place      = [[Paris]], France
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1763|2|12|1688|2|4|df=y}}
| death_place      = Paris, France
| occupation       = [[Playwright]]
| nationality      = [[French people|French]]
| period           = [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]
| genre            = [[Romantic comedy]]
| subject          = 
| movement         = [[Lumières]]
| spouse           = 
| partner          = 
| children         = 
| relatives        = 
| influenced       = 
| signature        = 
| birth_name       = Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux
}}
'''Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux''' ({{IPAc-en|m|æ|r|ɪ|ˈ|v|oʊ}};<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster| Marivaux}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|pjɛʁ kaʁlɛ də ʃɑ̃blɛ̃ də maʁivo|lang}}; 4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as '''Marivaux''', was a French [[playwright]] and [[novelist]].

Marivaux is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing numerous [[comedy|comedies]] for the [[Comédie-Française]] and the [[Comédie-Italienne]] of Paris. His most important works are ''[[Le Triomphe de l'amour]]'', ''[[Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard]]'' and ''[[Les Fausses Confidences]]''. He also published a number of essays and two important but [[unfinished work|unfinished]] novels, ''[[La Vie de Marianne]]'' and ''[[Le Paysan parvenu]]''.<ref name=EB1911/>

==Life==
Marivaux's father was a [[Normandy|Norman]] financier whose name from birth was Carlet, but who assumed the surname of Chamblain, and then that of Marivaux.  He brought up his family in [[Limoges]] and [[Riom]], in the province of [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]], where he directed the mint.<ref name=EB1911/>

Marivaux is said to have written his first play, the ''Père prudent et équitable'', when he was only eighteen, but it was not published until 1712, when he was twenty-four. However, the young Marivaux concentrated more on writing novels than plays. In the three years from 1713 to 1715 he produced three novels – ''Effets surprenants de la sympathie''; ''La Voiture embourbée'', and a book which had three titles – ''Pharsamon'', ''Les Folies romanesques'', and ''Le Don Quichotte moderne''. These books are very different from his later, more famous pieces: they are inspired by Spanish romances and the heroic novels of the preceding century, with a certain mixture of the marvelous.<ref name=EB1911/>

Then Marivaux's literary ardour entered a new phase. He parodied [[Homer]] to serve the cause of [[Antoine Houdar de La Motte]], (1672–1731) an ingenious paradoxer; Marivaux had already done something similar for [[François Fénelon]], whose ''Telemachus'' he parodied and updated as ''Le Telemaque travesti'' (written in 1714 but not published until 1736). His friendship with Antoine Houdar de La Motte introduced him to the ''Mercure'', the chief newspaper of France, and he started writing articles for it in 1717.  His work was noted for its keen observation and literary skill. His work showed the first signs of what is now called "marivaudage," the flirtatious bantering tone characteristic of Marivaux's dialogues.<ref name=EB1911/> In 1742 he became acquainted with the then-unknown [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], helping him revise a play, ''Narcissus,'' though it wasn't produced till long afterwards.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius|author=Leo Damrosch|year=2007|publisher=Mariner Books}}</ref>

Marivaux is reputed to have been a witty conversationalist, with a somewhat contradictory personality. He was extremely good-natured but fond of saying very severe things, unhesitating in his acceptance of favours (he drew a regular annuity from [[Claude Adrien Helvétius]]) but exceedingly touchy if he thought himself in any way slighted. At the same time, he was a great cultivator of sensibility and unsparingly criticized the rising ''philosophes''. Perhaps for this reason, [[Voltaire]] became his enemy and often disparaged him. Marivaux's friends included Helvétius, [[Claudine Guérin de Tencin]], [[Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle]] and even [[Madame de Pompadour]] (who allegedly provided him with a pension).  Marivaux had one daughter, who became a nun; the duke of Orleans, the regent's successor, furnished her with her dowry.<ref name=EB1911/>

==Literary career==

The early 1720s were very important for Marivaux; he wrote a comedy (now mostly lost) called ''L'Amour et la vérité'', another comedy, ''[[Arlequin poli par l'amour]]'', and an unsuccessful tragedy, ''Annibal'' (printed 1737).  In about 1721, he married a Mlle Martin, but she died shortly thereafter.  Meanwhile, he lost all of his inheritance money when he invested it in the [[Mississippi Company|Mississippi scheme]].  His pen now became almost his sole resource.<ref name=EB1911/>

Marivaux had a connection with two fashionable theatres: ''Annibal'' had played at the Comédie Française and ''Arlequin poli'' at the Comédie Italienne. He also endeavoured to start a weekly newspaper, the ''Spectateur Français'', to which he was the sole contributor. But his irregular work ethic killed the paper after less than two years.  Thus, for nearly twenty years, the theatre, especially the Comédie Italienne, was Marivaux's chief support. His plays were well received by the actors of the Comédie Française, but were rarely successful there.<ref name=EB1911/>

Marivaux wrote between 30 and 40 plays, the best of which are ''[[La Surprise de l'amour]]'' (1722), the ''Triomphe de Plutus'' (1728), ''Jeu de l'amour et du hasard'' (1730) ([[The Game of Love and Chance]]), ''Les Fausses confidences'' (1737), all produced at the Italian theatre, and ''Le Legs'' (1736), produced at the French.  At intervals, he returned to journalism: a [[periodical publication]] called ''L'Indigent philosophe'' appeared in 1727, and another called ''Le Cabinet du philosophe'' in 1734.  But the same causes which had proved fatal to the ''Spectateur'' prevented these later efforts from succeeding.<ref name=EB1911/>

In 1731 Marivaux published the first two parts of his great novel, ''Marianne''. The eleven parts appeared at intervals over the next eleven years, but the novel was never finished. In 1735 another novel, ''Le Paysan parvenu'', was begun, but this also was left unfinished.  Marivaux was elected a member of the [[Académie française]] in 1742.  For the next twenty years, he contributed occasionally to the ''Mercure'', wrote plays and reflections (which were seldom of much worth), and so forth. He died on 12 February 1763, aged seventy-five.<ref name=EB1911/>

==''Marivaudage''==
The so-called ''marivaudage'' is the main point of importance about Marivaux's literary work, though the best of the comedies have great merits, and ''Marianne'' is an extremely important step in the development of the French novel. That, and ''Le Paysan parvenu'', have some connection to the work of [[Samuel Richardson]] and [[Henry Fielding]]. In general, Marivaux's subject matter is the so-called "metaphysic of love-making." As [[Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon|Claude Prosper Jolyot Crébillon]] said, Marivaux's characters not only tell each other and the reader everything they have thought, but everything that they would like to persuade themselves that they have thought.<ref name=EB1911/>

This style derives mainly from Fontenelle and the ''Précieuses'', though there are traces of it even in [[Jean de La Bruyère]]. It abuses metaphor somewhat, and delights to turn a metaphor in an unexpected and bizarre fashion. Sometimes a familiar phrase is used where dignified language would be expected; sometimes the reverse.  Crébillon also described Marivaux's style as an introduction of words to each other which have never made acquaintance and which think that they will not get on together (this phrase is itself rather Marivaux-esque). This kind of writing, of course, recurs at several periods of literature, especially at the end of the 19th century.  This fantastic embroidery of language has a certain charm, and suits the somewhat unreal gallantry and sensibility which it describes and exhibits. Marivaux possessed, moreover, both thought and observation, besides considerable command of pathos.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle= Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de | volume= 17 |last1= Saintsbury |first1= George |author1-link= George Saintsbury | pages = 726&ndash;727 |short=1}}</ref>

==Works==

===Plays===
{{div col|colwidth=40em}}
* [[1712 in literature|1712]]: ''Le Père prudent et équitable''
* [[1720 in literature|1720]]: ''L'Amour et la Vérité''
* 1720: ''[[Arlequin poli par l'amour]] (Harlequin's Lesson of Love)''
* 1720: ''[[Annibal (Marivaux)|Annibal]]'', his only tragedy
* [[1722 in literature|1722]]: ''[[La Surprise de l'amour]] (The Agreeable Surprise)''
* [[1723 in literature|1723]]: ''[[La Double Inconstance]] (Infidelities)''
* [[1724 in literature|1724]]: ''[[:fr:Le Prince travesti|Le Prince travesti]]''
* 1724: ''[[La Fausse Suivante]] ou Le Fourbe puni (The False Servant)''
* 1724: ''Le Dénouement imprévu''
* [[1725 in literature|1725]]: ''[[L'Île des esclaves]] (Slave Island)''
* 1725: ''L'Héritier de village''
* [[1726 in literature|1726]]: ''[[Mahomet second]]'' (unfinished prose tragedy)
* [[1727 in literature|1727]]: ''[[L'Île de la raison]] ou Les petits hommes''
* 1727: ''La Seconde Surprise de l'amour''
* [[1728 in literature|1728]]: ''Le Triomphe de Plutus (Money Makes the World Go Round)''
* [[1729 in literature|1729]]: ''[[La Nouvelle Colonie]]'' lost and then rewritten in [[1750 in literature|1750]] with the title of ''La Colonie''
* [[1730 in literature|1730]]: ''[[Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard]] (The Game of Love and Chance)''
* [[1731 in literature|1731]]: ''La Réunion des Amours''
* [[1732 in literature|1732]]: ''[[Le Triomphe de l'amour]] (The Triumph of Love)''
* 1732: ''Les Serments indiscrets (Careless Vows)''
* 1732: ''L'École des mères''
* [[1733 in literature|1733]]: ''L'Heureux Stratagème (Successful Strategies)''
* [[1734 in literature|1734]]: ''[[La Méprise (Marivaux)|La Méprise]]''
* 1734: ''[[Le Petit-Maître corrigé]]''
* 1734: ''Le Chemin de la fortune''
* [[1735 in literature|1735]]: ''La Mère confidente''
* [[1736 in literature|1736]]: ''Le Legs (The Legacy)''
* [[1737 in literature|1737]]: ''[[Les Fausses Confidences]] (The False Confidences)''
* [[1738 in literature|1738]]: ''La Joie imprévue''
* [[1739 in literature|1739]]: ''[[Les Sincères]] (The Test)''
* [[1740 in literature|1740]]: ''[[L'Épreuve]]''
* [[1741 in literature|1741]]: ''La Commère''
* [[1744 in literature|1744]]: ''[[La Dispute]] (A Matter of Dispute)''
* [[1746 in literature|1746]]: ''[[Le Préjugé vaincu]]''
* [[1750 in literature|1750]]: ''[[La Colonie]]''
* 1750: ''La Femme fidèle''
* [[1757 in literature|1757]]: ''[[Félicie]]''
* 1757: ''[[Les Acteurs de bonne foi]] (The Constant Players)''
* [[1761 in literature|1761]]: ''La Provinciale''
{{div col end}}

===Journals and essays===
* [[1717 in literature|1717]]–[[1718 in literature|1718]]: ''Lettres sur les habitants de Paris''
* ''Lettres contenant une aventure''
* ''Pensées sur differents sujets''
* [[1721 in literature|1721]]–[[1724 in literature|1724]]: ''Le Spectateur français''
* [[1726 in literature|1726]]: ''L'Indigent philosophe''
* [[1734 in literature|1734]]: ''Le Cabinet du philosophe''

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

===Unfinished novels===
* begun in [[1727 in literature|1727]]: ''[[La Vie de Marianne]] (The Life of Marianne)''
* begun in [[1735 in literature|1735]]: ''[[Le Paysan parvenu]] (The Upstart Peasant)''

==Adaptations==
''[[Triumph of Love (musical)|Triumph of Love]]'', a 1997 musical stage adaptation of Marivaux's play ''[[The Triumph of Love (play)|The Triumph of Love]]'' had a brief [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] run.

===Film and television===
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|I nostri figli|it}}'', directed by [[Ugo Falena]] (Italy, 1914, short film, based on the play ''[[The Game of Love and Chance]]'')
*''[[Monsieur Hector]]'', directed by [[Maurice Cammage]] (France, 1940, based on the play ''[[The Game of Love and Chance]]'')
*''{{Ill|El juego del amor y del azar|es|3=El juego del amor y del azar (película de 1944)|lt=El juego del amor y del azar}}'', directed by [[Leopoldo Torres Ríos]] (Argentina, 1944, based on the play ''[[The Game of Love and Chance]]'')
*''{{Ill|Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard (film)|fr|3=Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard (téléfilm, 1967)|lt=Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard}}'', directed by [[Marcel Bluwal]] (France, 1967, TV film, based on the play ''[[The Game of Love and Chance]]'')
*''{{Ill|La Double Inconstance (1968 film)|fr|3=La Double Inconstance (téléfilm, 1968)|lt=La Double Inconstance}}'', directed by [[Marcel Bluwal]] (France, 1968, TV film, based on the play ''[[Double Inconstancy]]'')
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Caribia – Ein Filmrausch in Stereophonie|de}}'', directed by [[Arthur Maria Rabenalt]] (West Germany, 1978, based on the play ''[[La Dispute]]'')
*''{{Ill|Les Fausses Confidences (film)|fr|3=Les Fausses Confidences (film)|lt=Les Fausses Confidences}}'', directed by {{Ill|Daniel Moosmann|fr}} (France, 1984, based on the play ''[[Les Fausses Confidences]]'')
*''La Fausse Suivante'', directed by [[Patrice Chéreau]] (France, 1985, TV film, based on the play ''[[La Fausse Suivante]]'')
*''{{Ill|La Vie de Marianne (film)|fr|3=La Vie de Marianne (téléfilm)|lt=La Vie de Marianne}}'', directed by [[Benoît Jacquot]] (France, 1995, TV film, based on the novel ''[[La Vie de Marianne]]'')
*''[[False Servant]]'', directed by [[Benoît Jacquot]] (France, 2000, based on the play ''[[La Fausse Suivante]]'')

Marivaux's play ''[[The Triumph of Love (play)|The Triumph of Love]]'' (1732) was filmed in English in 2001 as ''[[The Triumph of Love (2001 film)|The Triumph of Love]]'', starring [[Mira Sorvino]], [[Ben Kingsley]], and [[Fiona Shaw]].<ref>{{IMDb title|0253840|The Triumph of Love (2001)}}</ref> It is, so far, the only one of Marivaux's plays ever to be filmed in English. The film received modestly favourable reviews, but was not a [[box office]] success.

In the French film ''[[Games of Love and Chance|L'Esquive]]'' (2003), directed by [[Abdellatif Kechiche]], Arab-French adolescents in a Paris suburb prepare and perform Marivaux's play ''[[Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{Commons category|Pierre de Marivaux}}

{{wikisourcelang|fr|Marivaux|Marivaux}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=4399}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de|name=Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Marivaux}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061103035857/http://www.biblioweb.org/-MARIVAUX-Pierre-.html Biography, Bibliography, Analysis, Plot overview] (in French)
* [http://www.site-magister.com/ilescla.htm Bibliography, Analysis of L'Ile des esclaves] (in French)

{{Pierre de Marivaux}}
{{Académie française Seat 24}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marivaux}}
[[Category:1688 births]]
[[Category:1763 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:18th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:18th-century French novelists]]