Antoine Furetière | |
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| Born | (1619-12-28)28 December 1619 |
| Died | 14 May 1688(1688-05-14) (aged 68) |
| Occupation | Scholar, writer, Catholic clergyman |
| Nationality | French |
| French andFrancophone literature |
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Antoine Furetière (28 December 1619 – 14 May 1688)[1] was a French scholar, writer, and lexicographer, known best for his satirical novelLe Roman bourgeois, and also his famousDictionnaire universel. TheAcadémie Française charged him with lexicographic plagiarism and ousted him for seeking to publish his own French language dictionary.
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, theabbé ofChalivoy in thediocese 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 theAcadémie Française in 1662 by virtue of hissatireNouvelle allégorique, ou histoire des derniers troubles arrivés au royaume d'éloquence (1658), among other works.[2]
One of Furetière's most important literary works wasLe Roman bourgeois (1666). This satirical novel described everyday life, especially within the legal profession, and ridiculed the fashionable romances ofMadeleine de Scudéry[1] and ofGauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède. Because of its similarity toPaul Scarron'sLe Roman comique (1651, 1657), it was translated into English asScarron's City Romance in 1671. With a self-conscious narrator who comments on his techniques and disregards the conventions of the novel, it anticipatesLaurence Sterne'sTristram Shandy (1759–1767).[3]
At its founding, the Académie Française had been entrusted with the task of producing a completedictionary 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'sDictionaire universel was published posthumously in the Netherlands with aPreface prepared by his friendPierre Bayle.[1]
