Benjamin Constant

Paul Rowe (University of Leeds)

Ed. by Jennifer Yee, University of Oxford
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

Born 25 Oct 1767
Died 8 Dec 1830
Activity 1816-1830

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Philosopher

Other

Autobiographer
Letter-writer/ Diarist
Political writer
Religious writer

Resources

Constant de Rebecque's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 25 October 1767, and died in Paris on 8 December 1830. Venerated, in the aftermath of the July 1830 Revolution, for his role as a figurehead of the liberal opposition to the often reactionary governments of the Restoration, he was given a state funeral and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery, where his modest tomb is now surrounded by the much grander ones of his political allies. He is remembered as the author of the short novel

Adolphe

(1816), for his relationship with Germaine de Staël, and as one of the leading lights of the Coppet Group, as a political theorist and historian of religion, and for a political career whose vicissitudes left him open to accusations of opportunism, against which he defended…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3129 words

Citation: Rowe, Paul. "Benjamin Constant". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=993, accessed 24 November 2024.]