Louis Charpentier

Marion Bally (Université de Rennes II Haute Bretagne)

Ed. by Síofra Pierse, University College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.04: French Writing and Culture: Eighteenth-Century and the Enlightenment, 1700-1800.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Jenny Mander (University of Cambridge), Síofra Pierse (University College Dublin), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born c. 1700
Died c. 1776

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Prose writer

Resources

Charpentier's Works

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Although largely forgotten today, Louis Charpentier was a novelist, essayist, literary critic, and satirist who appears to have played a key role in the rise of the eighteenth-century realistic and sentimental novel, or at least to have been one of its most striking forerunners.

His career was short but prolific. All of his works were published in the 1750s and 1760s, but the years 1767-1768 were especially productive, as they witnessed the publication of two collections of short-stories, two novels and an essay. Most of his works were published anonymously, although in a number he is identified by his initials (M. C.), and in others by oblique reference to his other works, such as “l’auteur de L’Orphelin normand” (the author of the 1768-9 work The Norman Orphan) or “l’auteur

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4112 words

Citation: Bally, Marion. "Louis Charpentier". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14991, accessed 24 November 2024.]