Anne-Marie du Boccage | |
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| Born | Anne-Marie Fiquet Le Page 22 October 1710 |
| Died | 8 August 1802(1802-08-08) (aged 91) Paris |
| Occupation(s) | Writer Playwright |
Anne-Marie Fiquet du Boccage, néeLe Page, (22 October 1710 – 8 August 1802) was an 18th-century French writer, poet, and playwright.
Born inRouen into the upper middle-class, she was educated in a convent in Paris. Anne-Marie Du Boccage wroteletters, poems, and plays for the stage.
In 1727, she married Pierre-Joseph Fiquet du Boccage, a 'receveur des tailles' (tax collector) and literature enthusiast. The couple knew and associated with all the literary figures of Rouen:Le Cornier de Cideville, theabbé du Resnel,Elie de Beaumont (who was to be the lawyer in the case of the Calas affair),Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, theabbé Yart, etc.
Having settled in Paris in 1733, the Du Boccages began to establish asalon. Anne-Marie began to associate with famous figures. In July 1746, she was awarded, in what was a rare distinction for a woman, the first prize of theRouen Academy. She sent her poem toVoltaire, who replied on 15 August 1746, addressing her as 'Sappho of Normandy'. Le Cornier de Cideville, fellow Norman and a correspondent of Voltaire's, recommended her salon toFontenelle, who before long became one of her Sunday regulars. A member of theAcadémie française and theFrench Academy of Sciences, Fontenelle introduced her to fellow academicianMarivaux, as well as to theabbé Trublet and other learned members, such asAlgarotti andClairaut.
In February 1748, she published a translation in six cantos ofMilton'sParadise Lost, which she dedicated to the Rouen Academy. Voltaire and Fontenelle sang her praises, and the abbé de Bernis wrote some verse in her honour. Through this poem, she gained the public's interest and sudden fame. From the end of the 1740s until the 1760s, innumerable poems about her were published in theMercure de France journal.
Encouraged by the success of herParadis terrestre(Earthly paradise), Anne-Marie du Boccage decided to brave the stage withLes Amazones [fr] (The Amazons), a tragedy in verse. This was to some an unforgivable act of daring for a woman. In spite of the hostility of the public, she dug her heels in, falling ill on the eve of the premiere at theComédie-Française on 24 July 1749, however the play was a success.Charles Collé reported that there was a full house, as if at a performance of a play by Voltaire orCrébillon in the depths of winter — although he did attribute the play todu Resnel or toLinant [fr]. Others, such asthe abbé Raynal, orBaculard d'Arnaud, also blamed her for daring to tread on ground commonly occupied by male playwrights.Les Amazones was nevertheless performed eleven times, which was a success at a time when plays often fell by the wayside after a single performance.
Anne-Marie du Boccage then tried her hand at an epic poem withLa Colombiade [fr], a poem in ten cantos, which caused a stir in literary circles. Voltaire,Fréron, theMercure de France, theJournal des savants and theJournal de Trévoux all praised it highly. It went through three editions in Paris, and was translated into English, Spanish, German and Italian.
Du Boccage'sLettres sur l'Angleterre, la Hollande et l'Italie (Letters Concerning England, Holland, and Italy, published in English in 1770 - volume 1,[1] volume 2[2]).
Anne-Marie du Boccage more literary prizes than any other woman of her time. After theRouen Academy in 1756, theAcademy of Lyon made her a member on 20 June 1758. When she travelled to Italy with her husband, not only was she received by the Pope, but she was the second Frenchwoman, afterEmilie du Châtelet, to be admitted to the two prestigious academiesof Rome and of Bologna. Her friend Algarotti arranged for her to be received in the academiesof Padua,of Florence andof Cortona [it].
Anne-Marie du Boccage manifested a certain feminism and did not hesitate to support other women writers or artists.
