Drama:
Le Père prudent et équitable: Ou, Crispin l’heureux fourbe, pr. c. 1709
Arlequin poli par l’amour, pr. 1720 (Robin, Bachelor of Love, 1968)
La Surprise de l’amour, pr. 1722 (The Agreeable Surprise, 1766)
La Double Inconstance, pr. 1723 (Double Infidelity, 1968)
Le Prince travesti: Ou, L’Illustre Aventurier, pr. 1724
L’Île des esclaves, pr., pb. 1725 (Slave Island, 1988)
Le Triomphe de Plutus, pr. 1728 (Money Makes the World Go Round, 1968)
Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard, pr., pb. 1730 (The Game of Love and Chance, 1907)
L’École des mères, pr., pb. 1732
L’Heureux Stratagème, pr., pb. 1733 (TheWiles of Love, 1968)
Les Fausses Confidences, pr. 1737 (The False Confessions, 1961)
L’Épreuve, pr., pb. 1740 (The Test, 1924)
La Femme fidèle, pb. 1746
Théâtre complet, pb. 1878, revised pb. 2000
Théâtre de Marivaux, pb. 1929-1930, 1951
Seven Comedies, pb. 1968
Long Fiction:
Les Effets surprenants de la sympathie, 1713-1714
La Voiture embourbée, 1714
La Vie de Marianne, 1731-1741 (The Life of Marianne, 1736-1742
also known as The Virtuous Orphan: Or, The Life of Marianne, 1979)
Le Paysan parvenu, 1734-1735 (The Fortunate Peasant, 1735)
Le Télémaque travesti, 1736
Pharsamon, 1737 (Pharsamond: Or, The New Knight-Errant, 1750)
Short Fiction:
Le Bilbouquet, 1714
Poetry:
Homère travesti: Ou, L’Illiade en vers burlesques, 1716
Nonfiction:
Pensées sur la clarté du discours, 1719
Le Spectateur français, 1722-1723, 1727, 1761 (includes L’Indigent Philosophe and Le Cabinet du philosophe)
Réflexions, 1744-1755
L’Éducation d’un prince, 1754
Le Miroir, 1755 (essay)
Journaux et oeuvres diverses, 1969
Œuvres de jeunesse, 1972
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (mah-ree-voh) was born into a Norman family prominent in the legal profession. An only child, he enjoyed the privileges of rank and education, reflected in his gracious manners and social cultivation. By 1713 he was settled in Paris, where he wrote plays, novels, and newspaper articles. In 1717 he married Colombe Bologne. He lost most of his inheritance in poorly supervised investments within the next few years. He wife died in 1723, and several years later their daughter entered a convent.
Marivaux profited from the patronage of the fashionable literary salons organized by the female icons of the eighteenth century–Anne-Thérèse Lambert, Claudine-Alexandrine Tencin, Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin, and Marie Deffand–all respected, powerful, and titled. With their support and encouragement he wrote about thirty plays, nearly twenty of them for the Théâter Italien; two influential novels; essays for the Nouveau Mercure (between 1717 and 1719) and the Spectateur Français (1722); and numerous minor works. He was elected to the French Academy in 1742; fifteen years later he became its director.
The Life of Marianne represents a landmark in the development of the novel because of its analytic precision and social realism. The Fortunate Peasant (also known as The Upstart Peasant), rooted in the picaresque novel tradition, reveals a gallery of characters drawn from several social layers. These novels, although unfinished, offer compelling studies of the déniasement (initiation) of inexperienced but socially ambitious young people into the coded hierarchy of personal relationships.
Marivaux’s theatrical productions are well-crafted dramatic fantasies replete with refreshing badinage (undertones, insinuations, and double entendres), song and dance, idealized love, exaggerated situations, delightful vistas, and skillful plotting. The term “Marivaudage,” coined by Denis Diderot, originally meant excessive refinement of psychological moods and endless speculation on minor points of argument; the modern use of the word is associated with Marivaux’s lively, subtle, and ingenious style. With these unique contributions to the theater and to the novel, Marivaux stands out as a creative force in the eighteenth century literary landscape.