Alain-René Lesage
A sharp-witted French satirist whose sprawling novel 'Gil Blas' captured the absurdities of society through the eyes of a clever, opportunistic valet.
1668–1747 (age 79)·French novelist·Birthday: May 6
Biography
Alain-René Lesage began his career translating Spanish plays for the Parisian stage, a apprenticeship that deeply shaped his own voice. He found his métier in satire, using the loose, episodic structure of the Spanish picaresque novel to hold up a mirror to all levels of French society. His masterpiece, 'The History of Gil Blas of Santillane', published in installments over two decades, follows its charming, amoral hero from naive youth to worldly retirement. Through Gil Blas's service to a parade of masters—doctors, aristocrats, actresses—Lesage delivered a panoramic and bitingly funny critique of human vanity and institutional corruption. While his earlier play 'Turcaret' skewered the new breed of financier so savagely it was shut down, 'Gil Blas' secured his legacy with a lighter, more enduring touch, influencing writers from Smollett to Stendhal.
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Alain-René's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1668Born
1673Started school
1681Became a teenager
1684Could drive
1686Could vote
1689Turned 21
1698Turned 30
1708Turned 40
1718Turned 50
1728Turned 60
1738Turned 70
1747Died at 79
Key Achievements
- Authored the picaresque novel 'Gil Blas', a seminal work of 18th-century French literature that satirized professions and social classes.
- Wrote the comedy 'Turcaret', a scathing indictment of financial corruption that caused such controversy its initial run was brief.
- Successfully adapted numerous Spanish plays for the French theatre, helping to popularize Spanish themes and structures in Paris.
- Published the popular comic novel 'The Devil upon Two Sticks' ('Le Diable Boiteux'), which featured a devil giving tours of Madrid's hidden lives.
Did You Know?
He originally studied to be a lawyer but abandoned it for a literary life after being orphaned and left without financial support.
Lesage wrote 'Gil Blas' while living relatively quietly outside Paris, away from the major literary salons of the capital.
Despite the fame of 'Gil Blas', he continued to produce a huge volume of work for the popular Théâtre de la Foire (Fair Theatre).
His son, who was also an actor and playwright, is often credited with adding the hyphen to the family name 'Le Sage', creating 'Lesage'.
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