Background
Jacques Cazotte was born in Dijon on October 17, 1719.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
The Devil in Love (Dedalus European Classics)
(" A brief but sparkling bon-bon from the French writer Ja...)
" A brief but sparkling bon-bon from the French writer Jacques Cazotte, who was guillotined in 1792. A young captain, stationed in Naples, is tempted into summoning up Beelzebub, who appears first in the guise of a hideous camel, then as a cute spaniel, and lastly - and most dangerously - as a gorgeous, pouting nymphette who declares herself enamoured of the young man and follows him everywhere. This is an amusing study of temptation, with sinister undertones." Anne Billson in Time Out "In Biondetta there remains no trace of the monstrous apparition conjured up by Alvaro in the ruins of Portico. The satanic seductress is hidden behind the face of the tormented and plaintive beauty until the end of the fable." Jorges Luis Borges "The Devil in Love is famous on various counts: for its charm and the perfection of its scenes, but above all for the originality of its conception. " Gerard de Nerval
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Jaques Cazotte
Edit ProfileEducation
Jacques Cazotte was educated by the Jesuits, and at twenty-seven he obtained a public office at Martinique, but it was not till his return to Paris in 1760 with the rank of commissioner-general that he made a public appearance as an author.
Career
Cazotte's first attempts, a mock romance, and a coarse song, gained so much popularity, both in the court and among the people, that he was encouraged to essay something more ambitious.
He also wrote a number of fantastic oriental tales, such as his Mille et une fadaises, Contes A dormir debout (1742).
His first success was with a " poem " in twelve cantos, and in prose intermixed with verse, entitled Ollivier (2 vols. , 1762), followed in 1771 by another romance, the Lord Impromptu.
But the most popular of his works was the Diable amoureux (1772), a fantastic tale in which the hero raises the devil.
The value of the story lies in the picturesque setting, and the skill with which its details are carried out.
Cazotte possessed extreme facility and is said to have turned off a seventh canto of Voltaire's Guerre civile de Geneve in a single night.
About 1775 Cazotte embraced the views of the Illuminati, declaring himself possessed of the power of prophecy.
It was upon this fact that La Harpe based his famous jeu d'esprit, in which he represents Cazotte as prophesying the most minute events of the Revolution.
An edition de luxe of the Diable amoureux was edited (1878) by A. J. Pons, and a selection of Cazotte's Contes, edited (1880) by Octave Uzanne, is included in the series of Petits Conteurs du XVIIIе siecle.
The best notice of Cazotte is in the Illumines (1852) of Gerard de Nerval.
Achievements
Works
book
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The Devil in Love (Dedalus European Classics)
(" A brief but sparkling bon-bon from the French writer Ja...)
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The Devil in Love (Dedalus European Classics)
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Born
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Died
September 25, 1792 (aged 73) -
Nationality
France -
Ethnicity
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Religion
Catholic