Antoine de Rivarol | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Antoine de Rivarol, by Melchior Wyrsch. | |
| Born | Antoine Rivaroli 26 June 1753 |
| Died | 11 April 1801 (agedย 47) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Nationality | French |
Antoine de Rivarol (26 June 1753ย โ 11 April 1801) was a French royalist writer and translator who lived during the Revolutionary era.[1][2][3] He was briefly married to the translator Louisa Henrietta de Rivarol.
Biography
editRivarol was born in Bagnols, Languedoc. It appears that his father, an innkeeper, was a cultivated man. The son assumed the title of comte de Rivarol, asserting a connection with the noble Italian family Riveroli, although his enemies said his name was really "Riverot" and that he was not of noble stock.[4] He went to Paris in 1777 and won several academic prizes.[5]
In 1780 he married Louisa Henrietta de Rivarol, a translator of Scottish descent. She had translated some works by Samuel Johnson and Johnson had become a friend of her family. Antoine Rivarol abandoned his wife after a short relationship which resulted in the birth of a son.[6] To Rivarol's embarrassment, a nurse who supported his abandoned wife was awarded the Montyon Prize for her humanity. He was divorced in 1784.[6]
In 1784, his Discours sur l'Universalitรฉ de la Langue Franรงaise and his translation of Dante's Inferno were favourably noted.[7][8] The year before the French Revolution broke out, he and Champcenetz published a lampoon, titled Petit Almanach de nos grands hommes pour 1788, that ridiculed without pity a number of writers of proven or future talent, along with a great many nobodies.[9]
Rivarol was the foremost journalist, commentator and epigrammatist among that faction of aristocrats which was most stalwartly conservative: he heaped scorn upon republicanism and defended the Ancien Rรฉgime.[10][11]
Rivarol's writing was published in the Journal Politique of Antoine Sabatier de Castres and the Actes des Apotres of Jean Gabriel Peltier. He left France in 1792, first settling in Brussels, then moving successively to London, Hamburg, and Berlin, where he died. Rivarol's rivals in France โ in sharp conversational sayings โ included Alexis Piron and Nicolas Chamfort.
His brother, Claude Franรงois Rivarol (1762โ1848), was also an author. His works include a novel, Isman, ou le Fatalisme (1795); a comedy, Le Vรฉridique (1827); and the history Essai sur les Causes de la Rรฉvolution Franรงaise (1827).
He died as exile in Berlin and was interred in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery, but the site of his grave was soon forgotten.[12]
Works
edit- (1782). Lettre Critique sur le Poรจme des Jardins.
- (1783). Lettre ร M. le Prรฉsident de *** sur le globe Airostatique, sur les Tรชtes Parlantes et sur lโรtat Prรฉsent de lโOpinion Publique ร Paris.
- (1784). De lโUniversalitรฉ de la Langue Franรงaise.
- (1785). LโEnfer, Poรจme du Dante.
- (1787). Rรฉcit du Portier du Sieur Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.
- (1788). Le Petit Almanach de nos Grands Hommes.
- (1788). Premiรจre Lettre ร M. Necker, sur lโImportance des Opinions Religieuses.
- (1788). Seconde Lettre ร M. Necker sur la Morale.
- (1788). Le Songe dโAthalie (with Louis de Champcenetz).
- (1789). Mรฉmoire sur la Nature et la Valeur de lโArgent.
- (1789). Le Petit Almanach de nos Grandes Femmes (with Louis de Champcenetz).
- (1789). Journal Politique-national des รtats-Gรฉnรฉraux et de la Rรฉvolution de 1789.
- (1789). Adresse ร MM. les Impartiaux ou Les Amis de la Paix Rรฉunis chez Monseigneur le Duc de La Rochefoucault.
- (1790). Petit Dictionnaire des Grands Hommes de la Rรฉvolution (with Louis de Champcenetz).
- (1790). Triomphe de lโAnarchie.
- (1790). รpรฎtre de Voltaire ร Mlle Raucour, actrice du Thรฉรขtre-franรงais.
- (1790). Le Petit Almanach de nos Grands-hommes.
- (1790). Rรฉponse ร la rรฉponse de M. de Champcenetz au sujet de lโouvrage de madame la B. de S*** sur Rousseau.
- (1791). Essai sur la Nรฉcessitรฉ du Mal.
- (1792). De la Vie Politique.
- (1792). Lettre ร la Noblesse Franรงaise, au Moment de sa Rentrรฉe en France sous les Ordres de M. le duc de Brunswick, Gรฉnรฉralissime des Armรฉes de lโEmpereur et du Roi de Prusse.
- (1792). Le Petit Almanach des Grands Spectacles de Paris.
- (1793). Adresse du Peuple Belge, ร S. M. lโEmpereur.
- (1795). Histoire Secrรจte de Coblence dans la Rรฉvolution Franรงaise.
- (1797). Tableau Historique et Politique des Travaux de lโAssemblรฉe Constituante, depuis lโOuverture des รtats Gรฉnรฉraux jusquโaprรจs la Journรฉe du 6 Octobre 1789.
- (1797). Discours Prรฉliminaire du Nouveau Dictionnaire de la Langue Franรงaise.
- (1808). ลuvres Complรจtes, Prรฉcรฉdรฉes dโune Notice sur sa Vie [5 vol.].
References
edit- ^ Faรฟ, Bernard (1978). Rivarol et la Rรฉvolution. Paris: Librairie Acadรฉmique Perin.
- ^ Baranger, Valรฉrie (2007). Rivarol Face ร la Rรฉvolution Franรงaise. รditions de Paris.
- ^ Beum, Robert (1997). "Ultra-Royalism Revisited," Modern Age 39 (3), p. 316.
- ^ . Encyclopรฆdia Britannica. Vol.ย 23 (11thย ed.). 1911. p.ย 373.
- ^ Barth, Hans (1960). "Antoine de Rivarol and the French Revolution." In: The Idea of Order: Contributions to a Philosophy of Politics. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., p. 49.
- ^ a b J. G. Alger, โRivarol, Louisa Henrietta de (b. before 1750, d. 1821)โ, rev. Rebecca Mills, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 6 Dec 2014
- ^ Kerslake, Lawrence (1981). "Rivarol's Evaluation and Translation of Dante," Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 12, pp. 81โ105.
- ^ Osen, James L. (1995). Royalist Political Thought During the French Revolution. Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 31.
- ^ "Antoine de Rivarol," Nation 32, No. 834, (23 June 1881): 438โ439.
- ^ Lefebvre, Georges (1962). The French Revolution. Vol.ย 1. New York: Columbia University Press. p.ย 141.
- ^ Matyaszewski, Paweล (1997). La Pensรฉe Politique d'Antoine de Rivarol. Lublin: Towarzystwo Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego.
- ^ Ernst Jรผnger, Rivarol, 1956 (German quote at books.google.de); German article at Tรถdliche Pointen flirren durch die Pariser Salons Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Wolf Lepenies, Die Welt, 04.08.12
Further reading
edit- Bauรซr, Gรฉrard (1962). Les Moralistes Franรงais: La Rochefoucauld; La Bruyรจre; Vauvenargues; Chamfort; Rivarol; Joubert. Paris: Editions A. Michel.
- Campbell, Gertrude E. (1892). "Rivarol," National Review, Vol. XIX, pp.ย 747โ761.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopรฆdia Britannica. Vol.ย 23 (11thย ed.). Cambridge University Press. p.ย 373.
- Cointat, Michel (2003). Rivarol (1753โ1801): Un รcrivain Controversรฉ. Paris: L'Harmattan.
- Coski, Christopher (2011). From Barbarism to Universality: Language and Identity in Early Modern France. University of South Carolina Press.
- Darnton, Robert (1982). The Literary Underground of the Old Regime. Harvard University Press.
- Debidour, Victor-Henry (1956). Rivarol, รcrits Politiques et Littรฉraires Choisis et Prรฉsentรฉs. Paris: Grasset.
- De Lescure, Mathurin (1882). Rivarol et la Sociรฉtรฉ Franรงaise pendant la Rรฉvolution et l'รmigration. Paris: E. Plon et Cie.
- Latzarus, Louis (1926). La Vie Paresseuse de Rivarol. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie.
- Law, Reed G. (1959). "Rivarol's 'Morale Indรฉpendante' and Pascal," Criticism 1 (3), pp.ย 249โ257.
- Le Breton, Andrรฉ (1895). Rivarol, sa Vie, ses Idรฉes. Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie.
- Lessay, Jean (1989). Rivarol, le Franรงais par Excellence. Paris: Perrin.
- Matyaszewski, Paweล (1990). "Le Conservatisme รclairรฉ de Rivarol," Revue d'Histoire littรฉraire de la France, 90e Annรฉe, No. 4/5, pp.ย 622โ630.
- McMahon, Darrin M. (2001). Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. Oxford University Press.
- Jรผnger, Ernest (1974). Rivarol et Autres Essais. Paris: Grasset.
- Roche, Alphonse Victor (1937). Les Idรฉes Traditionalistes en France de Rivarol ร Charles Maurras. The University of Illinois.
- Saintsbury, George (1892). "Chamfort and Rivarol." In: Miscellaneous Essays. London: Percival & Co., pp.ย 43โ80.
- Treich, Lรฉon (1926). LโEsprit de Rivarol. Paris: Gallimard.
External links
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