Antoine Gombaud Méré

Méré, Antoine Gombaud, chevalier de (1607-84). A member of the old French nobility, he made his debut as a writer late in life. Drawing on a good education (he was a devotee of Greek literature) and a lifetime's experience of high society, he published six Conversations (1668), followed by three Discours (1677) concerning charm, wit, and conversation, and six further Discours, published posthumously. He is the principal theorist of honnêteté, which he presents as a compendium of aesthetic and moral values (naturalness, good taste, politeness, charm). It is an ideal of individual excellence, but inseparable from aristocratic hegemony. Paradoxically, given that the honnête homme is the opposite of the pedant, he tends to adopt a pedagogical tone. He corresponded with Pascal, but his influence on the latter has been exaggerated.

[Peter France]