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{{Short description|French writer and scholar (1619–1688)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Antoine Furetière
| name = Antoine Furetière
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1619|12|28|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1619|12|28|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Paris, France]]
| birth_place = [[Paris]], France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1688|5|14|1619|12|28|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1688|5|14|1619|12|28|df=y}}
| death_place =
| death_place =
| occupation = Scholar, writer, Catholic clergyman
| occupation = Scholar, writer, Catholic clergyman
| nationality = France
| nationality = French
}}
}}


{{French literature sidebar}}
{{French literature sidebar}}


'''Antoine Furetière''' (28 December 161914 May 1688), was a [[France|French]] scholar, writer, and lexicographer.
'''Antoine Furetière''' (28 December 1619{{snd}}14 May 1688)<ref name="EB1911"/> was a French scholar, writer, and lexicographer, known best for his satirical novel ''Scarron's City Romance''. He was expelled from the [[Académie Française]] for seeking to publish his own French language dictionary.


==Biography==
==Biography==
He was born in Paris, the son of an employee of the royal household. He studied law and worked for a time as an attorney and tax assessor. Later he became a Catholic clergyman and, after various promotions, the abbot of [[Chalivoy]] in the [[diocese of Bourges]] in 1662. Thanks to the leisure he enjoyed as a clergyman, he was able to devote himself to letters. He was admitted to the [[Académie française]] in 1662 in virtue of his satire ''Nouvelle allégorique, ou histoire des derniers troubles arrivés au royaume d'éloquence'' (1658) among other works.<ref>Walter W. Ross, "Antoine Furetière's Dictionnaire universel," in Notable Encyclopedias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Nine Predecessors of the Encyclopédie (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1981), 53-54.</ref>
Furetière was born in Paris, the son of an employee of the royal household. He studied law and worked for a time as an attorney and tax assessor. Later he became a Catholic clergyman and, after various promotions, the [[abbé]] of [[Chalivoy-Milon|Chalivoy]] in the [[diocese of Bourges]] in 1662. Thanks to the leisure he enjoyed as a clergyman, he was able to devote himself to writing.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Furetière, Antoine|volume=11|page=357}}</ref> He was admitted to the [[Académie Française]] in 1662 by virtue of his [[satire]] {{Lang|fr|Nouvelle allégorique, ou histoire des derniers troubles arrivés au royaume d'éloquence}} (1658), among other works.<ref>Walter W. Ross, "Antoine Furetière's Dictionnaire universel," in Notable Encyclopedias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Nine Predecessors of the Encyclopédie (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1981), 53–54.</ref>


One of Furetière's most important literary works was ''Le Roman bourgeois'' (1666). This satirical novel described the everyday life of his times, especially within the legal profession, and it cast ridicule on the fashionable romances of [[Madeleine de Scudéry]] and of [[Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède]]. Because of its similarity to [[Paul Scarron]]'s ''Le Roman comique'' (1651, 1657), it was translated into English as ''Scarron's City Romance'' in 1671. With a self-conscious narrator who comments on his techniques and disregards the conventions of the novel, it anticipates [[Laurence Sterne]]'s ''[[Tristram Shandy]]'' (1759-67).<ref>Steven Moore, ''The Novel, An Alternative History: 1600-1800'' (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), 800 n.253.</ref>
One of Furetière's most important literary works was ''Le Roman bourgeois'' (1666). This satirical novel described everyday life, especially within the legal profession, and ridiculed the fashionable romances of [[Madeleine de Scudéry]]<ref name="EB1911"/> and of [[Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède]]. Because of its similarity to [[Paul Scarron]]'s ''Le Roman comique'' (1651, 1657), it was translated into English as ''Scarron's City Romance'' in 1671. With a self-conscious narrator who comments on his techniques and disregards the conventions of the novel, it anticipates [[Laurence Sterne]]'s ''[[Tristram Shandy]]'' (1759–1767).<ref>Steven Moore, ''The Novel, An Alternative History: 1600–1800'' (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), 800 n.253.</ref>


At the time of its founding, the [[Académie française]] had been entrusted with the task of producing a complete [[dictionary]] of the French language. At first, Furetière participated in the collaborative project with enthusiasm, but he eventually grew frustrated with his colleagues' approach and slow progress and began work on his own dictionary, probably around 1676-78.<ref>Alain Rey, "Antoine Furetière, imagier de la culture classique," vol. 1 of ''Le Dictionnaire universel d'Antoine Furetière'', facsimile edition (Paris: SNL - Le Robert, 1978), 54.</ref> When members of the academy heard that Furetière was about to publish his dictionary, they interfered, alleging that he had stolen their material and violated the monopoly they had held on French dictionaries since 1672. In 1685, after fierce recrimination on both sides, Furetière was expelled from the academy, and the French government revoked his permission to publish the dictionary. In 1690, the ''Dictionaire universel'' was published posthumously in the Netherlands with a ''Preface'' prepared by his friend [[Pierre Bayle]].
At its founding, the Académie Française had been entrusted with the task of producing a complete [[Dictionnaire de l'Académie française|dictionary of the French language]]. Furetière initially participated in the collaborative project with enthusiasm, but eventually grew frustrated with his colleagues' approach and slow progress and began work on his own dictionary, probably around 1676–1678.<ref>Alain Rey, "Antoine Furetière, imagier de la culture classique," vol. 1 of ''Le Dictionnaire universel d'Antoine Furetière'', facsimile edition (Paris: SNL Le Robert, 1978), 54.</ref> When members of the academy heard that Furetière was about to publish his dictionary, they interfered, alleging that he had stolen their material and violated the monopoly they had held on French dictionaries since 1672. In 1685, after fierce recrimination on both sides, Furetière was expelled from the academy, and the French government revoked his permission to publish the dictionary. In 1690, Furetière's ''[[Dictionnaire universel, contenant generalement tous les mots françois|Dictionaire universel]]'' was published posthumously in the Netherlands with a ''Preface'' prepared by his friend [[Pierre Bayle]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

The second edition (1701) and the third edition (1708) were revised and improved by the [[Protestant]] jurist [[Henri Basnage de Beauval]] (1656–1710); they were published with the title ''Dictionnaire universel''. A fourth edition of the ''Dictionnaire universel'', edited by [[Jean-Baptiste Brutel de la Rivière|Brutel de la Rivière]], appeared in 1727. In each edition, the spelling of the French word for ''dictionary'' in the title matches the spelling of the corresponding headword within the work.

==Publication History of the ''Dictionnaire Universel''==
* 1684 : ''Essais d'un Dictionnaire universel''. [Amsterdam]: [Henri Desbordes].
* 1685 : ''Essais d'un Dictionaire universel''. Amsterdam: Henri Desbordes.
* 1690 : ''Dictionaire universel''. Den Haag & Rotterdam: Arnoud et Reinier Leers. First edition. 3 volumes. Preface by Pierre Bayle. Posthumous publication.
* 1691 : ''Dictionaire universel''. Den Haag & Rotterdam: Arnoud et Reinier Leers. Reprint of first edition in 2 volumes.
* 1701 : ''Dictionnaire universel''. Den Haag & Rotterdam: Arnoud et Reinier Leers. Second edition. 3 volumes. Edited by [[Henri Basnage de Beauval]].
* 1702 : ''Dictionnaire universel''. Den Haag & Rotterdam: Arnoud et Reinier Leers. Reprint of second edition in 2 volumes.
* 1708 : ''Dictionnaire universel''. Rotterdam: Reinier Leers. Third edition. 3 volumes. Edited by [[Henri Basnage de Beauval]].
* 1727 : ''Dictionnaire universel''. Den Haag: Pierre Husson, Thomas Johnson, Jean Swart, and others. Fourth edition. 4 volumes. Edited by [[Jean-Baptiste Brutel de la Rivière]].

At the behest of [[Louis Auguste, Prince of Dombes]], the Jesuits of the Collège of Louis le Grand in Paris literally copied the 1701 edition of Furetière's ''Dictionnaire universel'' before editing the work to suppress deviant Protestant notions. The Jesuit version was printed in 1704 outside Lyon at [[Trévoux]], then the capital of [[Dombes]]; the same press at Trévoux also published the Jesuit periodical ''[[Journal de Trévoux]]'', which appeared monthly from 1701 until 1782.
The Jesuits even plagiarized the name of Furetière's work: the title given on the title page of the Jesuit editions was ''[[Dictionnaire de Trévoux|Dictionnaire universel françois & latin]]''; the words "françois & latin" were appended to the title because the Jesuits appended a brief Latin-French dictionary to the last volume of their editions. Although almost immediately known as the ''[[Dictionnaire de Trévoux]]'' to distinguish it from the dictionary of Furetière, these words did not appear on the title page until the last edition in 1771, which followed the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus|suppression of the Jesuits in France]]. Further work on the ''[[Dictionnaire de Trévoux]]'' came to an end after the removal of the Jesuits from Paris.<ref>Robert Collison. ''Encyclopaedias: Their History throughout the Ages''. New York: Hafner Publishing Company, 1964.</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Furetière, Antoine|volume=11|page=357}}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Trévoux|volume=27|page=257}}</ref><ref>Richard Yeo. ''Encyclopaedic Visions: Scientific Dictionaries and Enlightenment Culture''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref><ref>Dorotea Behnke. ''Furetière und Trévoux: Eine Untersuchung zum Verhältnis der beiden Wörterbuchserien''. Tubingen: Max Niemeyer, 1996.</ref>

The 1721 edition of the ''Dictionnaire de Trévoux'' significantly expanded [[Henri Basnage de Beauval|Basnage de Beauval]]'s edition of Furetière's work; however, quite remarkably, while material was added to articles, very little existing material was removed or even reworked: additional material was simply bolted on to the text of the 1704 edition of the Trévoux dictionary. The first most visible difference between the 1701 edition of Basnage de Beauval and the 1721 edition of Trévoux is a tweaking of the abbreviations of the names of the authors cited in the articles of the dictionary.

Subsequently, [[Jean-Baptiste Brutel de la Rivière|Brutel de la Rivière]] updated his 1727 edition of Furetière's dictionary largely by copying material added by the 1721 edition of the Trévoux dictionary.


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Refimprove|date=November 2016}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{NIE Poster|Furetière, Antoine|Antoine Furetière}}
{{NIE Poster|Furetière, Antoine|Antoine Furetière}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Furetière,+Antoine | name=Antoine Furetière}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=36391| name=Antoine Furetière}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Antoine Furetière}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Antoine Furetière}}


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[[Category:1619 births]]
[[Category:1619 births]]
[[Category:1688 deaths]]
[[Category:1688 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:17th-century lexicographers]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:People of the Ancien Régime]]
[[Category:People of the Ancien Régime]]
[[Category:French fabulists]]
[[Category:French fabulists]]
[[Category:Expelled members of the Académie française]]
[[Category:Expelled members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:French lexicographers]]
[[Category:French lexicographers]]
[[Category:17th-century French writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French novelists]]

Latest revision as of 22:16, 28 September 2024

Antoine Furetière
Born(1619-12-28)28 December 1619
Paris, France
Died14 May 1688(1688-05-14) (aged 68)
OccupationScholar, writer, Catholic clergyman
NationalityFrench

Antoine Furetière (28 December 1619 – 14 May 1688)[1] was a French scholar, writer, and lexicographer, known best for his satirical novel Scarron's City Romance. He was expelled from the Académie Française for seeking to publish his own French language dictionary.

Biography

[edit]

Furetière was born in Paris, the son of an employee of the royal household. He studied law and worked for a time as an attorney and tax assessor. Later he became a Catholic clergyman and, after various promotions, the abbé of Chalivoy in the diocese of Bourges in 1662. Thanks to the leisure he enjoyed as a clergyman, he was able to devote himself to writing.[1] He was admitted to the Académie Française in 1662 by virtue of his satire Nouvelle allégorique, ou histoire des derniers troubles arrivés au royaume d'éloquence (1658), among other works.[2]

One of Furetière's most important literary works was Le Roman bourgeois (1666). This satirical novel described everyday life, especially within the legal profession, and ridiculed the fashionable romances of Madeleine de Scudéry[1] and of Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède. Because of its similarity to Paul Scarron's Le Roman comique (1651, 1657), it was translated into English as Scarron's City Romance in 1671. With a self-conscious narrator who comments on his techniques and disregards the conventions of the novel, it anticipates Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (1759–1767).[3]

At its founding, the Académie Française had been entrusted with the task of producing a complete dictionary of the French language. Furetière initially participated in the collaborative project with enthusiasm, but eventually grew frustrated with his colleagues' approach and slow progress and began work on his own dictionary, probably around 1676–1678.[4] When members of the academy heard that Furetière was about to publish his dictionary, they interfered, alleging that he had stolen their material and violated the monopoly they had held on French dictionaries since 1672. In 1685, after fierce recrimination on both sides, Furetière was expelled from the academy, and the French government revoked his permission to publish the dictionary. In 1690, Furetière's Dictionaire universel was published posthumously in the Netherlands with a Preface prepared by his friend Pierre Bayle.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Furetière, Antoine" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 357.
  2. ^ Walter W. Ross, "Antoine Furetière's Dictionnaire universel," in Notable Encyclopedias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Nine Predecessors of the Encyclopédie (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1981), 53–54.
  3. ^ Steven Moore, The Novel, An Alternative History: 1600–1800 (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), 800 n.253.
  4. ^ Alain Rey, "Antoine Furetière, imagier de la culture classique," vol. 1 of Le Dictionnaire universel d'Antoine Furetière, facsimile edition (Paris: SNL – Le Robert, 1978), 54.
[edit]