Jean Mairet
Encyclopedia
Jean Mairet (May 10, 1604 – January 31, 1686) was a classical French
dramatist who wrote both tragedies
and comedies
.
, and went to Paris to study at the Collège des Grassins about 1625. In that year he produced his first piece Chryséide et Arimand. In 1634 he produced his masterpiece, Sophonisbe, which marks, in its observance of the rules, the first to be staged of the classical French tragedies. He also introduced to French drama the three classical unities
of time, action and place, after a misreading of Aristotle
's Poetics.
Mairet was one of the bitterest assailants of Corneille
in the controversy over the violation of the classical unities in Le Cid. He produced several pamphlets against Corneille, who responded more than once, most famously with his Advertissement au Besançonnois Mairet (1637). The personal intervention of Cardinal Richelieu was eventually required to calm the furore in the theatres. It was perhaps his jealousy of the successful Corneille, together with the deaths of his aristocratic patrons, first the duc de Montmorency
(1632) and then François de Faudoas, comte de Belin, that made Mairet give up writing for the stage.
He was appointed in 1648 official representative of his home county, the Franche-Comté
, which allowed him to stay in Paris
, but in 1653 he was banished by Cardinal Mazarin. He was subsequently allowed to return, but in 1668 he retired to Besançon, and subsequently rarely left.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
dramatist who wrote both tragedies
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
and comedies
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
.
Life
He was born at BesançonBesançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
, and went to Paris to study at the Collège des Grassins about 1625. In that year he produced his first piece Chryséide et Arimand. In 1634 he produced his masterpiece, Sophonisbe, which marks, in its observance of the rules, the first to be staged of the classical French tragedies. He also introduced to French drama the three classical unities
Classical unities
The classical unities, Aristotelian unities or three unities are rules for drama derived from a passage in Aristotle's Poetics. In their neoclassical form they are as follows:...
of time, action and place, after a misreading of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's Poetics.
Mairet was one of the bitterest assailants of Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
in the controversy over the violation of the classical unities in Le Cid. He produced several pamphlets against Corneille, who responded more than once, most famously with his Advertissement au Besançonnois Mairet (1637). The personal intervention of Cardinal Richelieu was eventually required to calm the furore in the theatres. It was perhaps his jealousy of the successful Corneille, together with the deaths of his aristocratic patrons, first the duc de Montmorency
Henri II de Montmorency
Henri II de Montmorency was a French nobleman and military commander.Born at Chantilly, Oise, he was the son of duke Henry I, whom he succeeded in 1614, having previously been made grand admiral...
(1632) and then François de Faudoas, comte de Belin, that made Mairet give up writing for the stage.
He was appointed in 1648 official representative of his home county, the Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
, which allowed him to stay in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, but in 1653 he was banished by Cardinal Mazarin. He was subsequently allowed to return, but in 1668 he retired to Besançon, and subsequently rarely left.
Other plays
- La Sylvie, a pastoral tragi-comedy (1626)
- La Silvanire, ou la Morte-vive, with an elaborate preface on the observance of the unities (1631)
- Les Galanteries du duc d'Ossonne, comedy (1632)
- La Virginie, tragi-comedy (1633)
- Le Marc-Antoine, ou la Cléopâtre, tragedy (1635)
- L'illustre corsaire, tragi-comedy (1636)
- Le Grand et dernier Solyman, tragedy (1637)
- L’Illustre corsaire, tragi-comedy (1640)
- Le Roland furieux, tragi-comedy (1641)
- L’Athénaïs, tragi-comedy (1642)
- La Sidonie, tragi-comedy (1643)