Restif de la bretonne wikisource autobiography 1

Restif de la bretonne wikisource autobiography pdf

Owing to a scandal in which he was involved, he was apprenticed to a printer at Auxerre, and, having served his time, went to Paris. It was not until five or six years after his marriage that Restif appeared as an author, and from that time to his death, on the 2nd of February , he produced a bewildering multitude of books, amounting to something like two hundred volumes, many of them printed with his own hand, on almost every conceivable variety of subject.

Restif suffered at one time or another the extremes of poverty and was acquainted with every kind of intrigue. He drew on the episodes of his own life for his books, which, in spite of their faded sentiment, contain truthful pictures of French society on the eve of the Revolution. The most noteworthy of his works are Le Pied de Fanchette , a novel ; Le Pornographe , a plan for regulating prostitution which is said to have been actually carried out by the Emperor Joseph II.

The original editions of these, and indeed of all his books, have long been bibliographical curiosities owing to their rarity, the beautiful and curious illustrations which many of them contain, and the quaint typographic system in which most are composed. In he received a gratuity of francs from the government, and just before his death Napoleon gave him a place in the ministry of police, which he did not live to take up.

Soon he embraced Protestantism. He drew on the episodes of his own life for his books, which, "in spite of their faded sentiment, contain truthful pictures of French society on the eve of the Revolution ". The original editions of these, and indeed of all his books, have long been bibliographical curiosities owing to their rarity, the beautiful and curious illustrations which many of them contain, and the quaint typographic system in which most are composed on.

The fall of the assignats during the Revolution forced him to make his living by writing, profiting on the new freedom of the press.

Nicolas restif de la bretonne

In he received a gratuity of francs from the Thermidor Convention. In spite of his declarations for the new power, his aristocratic acquaintances and his reputation made him fall in disgrace. Just before his death, Napoleon gave him a place in the ministry of police; he died at Paris before taking up the position.

According to Britannica ,. Restif de la Bretonne undoubtedly holds a remarkable place in French literature. He was inordinately vain, of extremely relaxed morals, and perhaps not entirely sane.

Restif de la bretonne wikisource autobiography

His books were written with haste, and their licence of subject and language renders them quite unfit for general perusal. He was rediscovered by the Surrealists in the early 20th century. He is also noted for his advocacy of communism , indeed the term first made its modern appearance in his book review of Joseph-Alexandre-Victor Hupay de Fuveau who described himself as "communist" with his Project for a Philosophical Community.

Jean-Louis Barrault played Restif. In his analysis of the satirical poem "Ode to Buggers," David M. There is much scholarly debate over the veracity of this conclusion. However, he was also a "pornographer" in the Ancient Greek sense of the word, as he wrote about the day-to-day life of prostitutes, and concerned himself with their well-being.

Restif de la bretonne wikisource autobiography summary

In all these elements, the novel exemplifies the ways in which the model of the Nights was used to develop new literary forms and experiment with literary strategies, using the elements of self-reflexivity, self-generating stories, and the relationship between reality and the imagination. The fragment contains the introductory part and the first contemplations.

Les nuits de Paris, ou le spectateur nocturne, vol. This page has been archived and is no longer being updated. The fragments: The influence of the Thousand and one nights on 18th century literature is usually sought in forms of orientalism and exoticism, such as the Oriental tale or fantastic literature.