Gauthier de Costes de La Calprenede

Guy Paul Snaith (University of Liverpool)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.03: French Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century: Classical and Baroque, 1600-1700.
Vol. editors: Heather Kirk (University of Western Ontario), Kathrina LaPorta (New York University), Polly Mangerson (DePaul University), Julia Prest (University of St Andrews), Allison Stedman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 1614
Died 1663
Activity 1634-1663

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

La Calprenede's Works

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Despite the fact that his name is now only recognised in scholarly circles, Gautier de Costes de la Calprenède was one of the most successful French writers of the seventeenth century. His novels, upon which his fame principally rests, remained extremely popular even beyond his lifetime, selling in their thousands, inspiring plays, and still being translated as late as the nineteenth century. He began his literary career, however, by writing for the stage, producing nine plays between 1635 and 1642, alternating between the two most popular genres of the time: tragedy and tragicomedy. His life was filled with dual careers. In the 1630s he was both soldier and dramatist; in the 1640s, soldier and novelist; in the 1650s, while he continued to write novels, he would also render diplomatic…

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2881 words

Citation: Snaith, Guy Paul. "Gauthier de Costes de La Calprenede". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 August 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2580, accessed 22 November 2024.]