Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny

Charles Sorel

Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny (c. 1602 March 7, 1674) was a French novelist and general writer.

Life

Very little is known of his life except that in 1635 he was historiographer of France. He wrote on science, history and religion, but is only remembered for his novels. He tried to destroy the vogue for the pastoral romance by writing a novel of adventure, the Histoire comique de Francion (first edition in seven volumes, 1623; second edition in twelve volumes, 1633). The episodical adventures of Francion found many readers, who nevertheless kept their admiration for Honoré d'Urfé's L'Astrée, which it was intended to ridicule.[1]

Sorel decided to make his intention unmistakable, and in Le Berger extravagant (3 vols, 1627) he wrote a burlesque, in which a Parisian shop-boy, his head turned by sentiment, chooses an unprepossessing mistress and starts life as a shepherd with a dozen sheep on the banks of the Seine. Sorel did not succeed in founding the novel of character, and what he accomplished was more in the direction of farce, but he struck a shrewd blow at heroic romances.[1]

Among his other works are Polyandre (1648) and La Connaissance des bons livres (1671). He died in Paris on 7 March 1674.

Works by Charles Sorel

Original editions

Bibliography based on Émile Roy:[2]

La vraye Histoire comique de Francion, illustration by Martin van Maële
Charles Sorel :
Polyandre (1648)

Modern editions

References

  1. 1 2 Chisholm 1911.
  2. La bibliographie de Charles Sorel a été établie par Émile ROY dans La vie et l'œuvre de Charles Sorel, Paris, Hachette, 1891, Genève, Slatkine reprints, 1970. Cependant, Roy a eu tendance à être très généreux avec Sorel. La bibliographie ci-dessus n'indique que les oeuvres que Sorel a avouées, plus ou moins explicitement dans deux textes:
    • L'"Advertissement sur ce livre, et sur quelques choses qui en dependent" qui conclut le tome 1 de La Science Universelle des trois premières éditions (1634, 1641, 1647),
    • "L’ordre et l’examen des livres attribuez à l’autheur de la Bibliothèque françoise" dans La Bibliothèque française (1664, 1667).
    Récemment, Gabrielle Verdier a tenté de démontrer que Sorel était également l'auteur de la première Suite de la Polyxène de Molière d'Essertine: "Sorel et le mystère de la Polyxène" in Charles Sorel Polygraphe, Textes rassemblés par Emmanuel Bury et édités par Eric Van der Schueren, Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2006.
  3. Cf. Gabrielle Verdier, "Sorel et le mystère de la Polyxène" in Charles Sorel Polygraphe, Textes rassemblés par Emmanuel Bury et édités par Eric Van der Schueren, Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2006.
  4. Polyandre : histoire comique. Première partie
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sorel, Charles". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

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