Antoine-François Prévost
Prévost, Antoine-François, abbé (1697-1763). French novelist and translator. After 1728 he called himself Prévost d'Exiles.
Having done well as a pupil of the Jesuits, Prévost seemed destined to enter the priesthood. But he apparently interrupted his religious training and spent two periods in military service. He finally took his vows in 1721, as a Benedictine. In 1728 he obtained a transfer to a less strict branch of the order. However, he left his monastery before the transfer had been validated and so became a fugitive. The next six years were spent as an exile in England and Holland. This period includes his liaison with Lenki Eckhardt, whom some critics have assumed, mistakenly, to be the model for Manon Lescaut. Probably because of Lenki, Prévost got into financial difficulties, fled from Holland leaving debts unpaid, and falsified a bill of exchange in London. In 1734 he returned to France, having regularized his position, and two years later he became almoner to the prince de Conti. There was one more period of exile: in 1741 he was banished for involvement in a scandal-sheet about Paris and the court. From 1742 until his death he led a peaceful existence, mainly occupied with his writing.
His output was prolific and extremely varied. He wrote prefaces to, and/or edited, works by other writers. He edited a literary review, Le Pour et contre (1733-40), and wrote much of its contents. His translations of Latin and English works totalled 31 volumes, without counting the large amount of translation involved in his 15-volume compilation, Histoire générale des voyages (1746-59). Among the English novels he translated, his version of Richardson's Clarissa, which appeared as Lettres anglaises (1751), was probably the most influential. He also compiled a Manuel lexique (1750) of unusual French words. Then there are two romanced biographies: Histoire de Marguerite d'Anjou (1740) and Histoire de Guillaume le Conquérant (1742). However, the basis of his literary fame nowadays is his fiction, and in particular Manon Lescaut.
Between 1728 and 1741 he published three long novels. The Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité (1728-31) recounts first the sufferings of the narrator-hero, and then the adventures of the young nobleman whose mentor he becomes. (The seventh volume, the story of Manon, was soon published separately and was frequently reprinted.) Next came Le Philosophe anglais ou Histoire de monsieur Cleveland (1731-9). Cleveland is supposedly an illegitimate son of Oliver Cromwell; he pursues a long quest for, and eventually finds, emotional and spiritual contentment. Le Doyen de Killerine (1735-40) is set amid the Jacobite struggles, but the Dean is chiefly concerned with the entanglements of his sister and his two brothers. These three works won considerable popularity. They are all rich in action: the heroes make numerous journeys; coincidences and chance meetings abound; there are cases of mistaken identity, etc. In the main they observe the bienséances, though there are suggestive episodes, as when Cleveland comes close to inadvertently committing incest. But adventure is not all: Prévost's narrators dwell at length on their feelings; they are all keenly aware of moral issues, and repeatedly seek to explain and justify their behavior.
These traits reappear in the remaining novels, which are shorter. Here, although amour-passion is still powerful, it gives way to disillusionment. The narrator of Histoire d'une Grecque moderne (1740) sets free a slave-girl with whom he then falls in love, but he is left doubting her virtue. In the Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Malte (1741), the Commandeur is for a time swayed by love, but finally overcomes it. As for Les Campagnes philosophiques (1741), though the ‘campaigns’ are ostensibly military ones, the true interest lies in various amourous intrigues. Prévost frequently uses historical elements in his novels, but he refashions ‘history’ freely to suit the needs of his stories.
Both in his translations and in his original works Prévost has a fluent, attractive style. His writings contributed to several major trends of the period such as the rising vogue of sensibilité, the development of the memoir-novel, and the spread of anglomanie. The fact that his works are so clearly imbued with passing tendencies of his day may help to explain why, apart from Manon Lescaut, their appeal has faded.
[Vivienne Mylne]
Bibliography
- J. Sgard, Prévost romancier (1968)
