[LA MORLIÈRE (Jacques Rochette de). Angola,... - Lot 8 - Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés

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[LA MORLIÈRE (Jacques Rochette de). Angola,... - Lot 8 - Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés
[LA MORLIÈRE (Jacques Rochette de). Angola, Indian history. At Agra [i.e. Paris], "with privilege of the Great Mogul", s.n., 1751. 2 volumes in one in-12, 25-(1)-169 [including the second blank]-(1)-(2 including the second blank)-206-(2) pp, title pages printed in red and black; dark green morocco, spine ribbed with partitions and fleurons, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, filleted edges, gilt inner lace, gilt edges (Chambolle-Duru). FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION of this novel originally published in 1746. ENGRAVED COPPERPLATES AFTER CHARLES EISEN: 5 plates out of text; in the text, a vignette to the title of the first volume and a band with Venus repeated once. AN ORIENTAL GALANT TALE, Angola illustrates a genre in which Crébillon fils, Caylus or Cazotte had already shone and that Diderot would soon choose for his Bijoux indiscrets. Obeying all the codes of the libertine novel, Angola develops an endearing plot in conventional orientalism, between gallantry and eroticism, in a tight narrative with a bantering elegance, full of humor and irony. A SARCASTIC PICTURE OF MANNERS. In a transparent way, the Court of Louis XV provides the framework and even the subject of the novel. Angola offers the reflection of a society anxious to be of "good tone", affecting the eccentricity, the quirkiness, the boredom, displaying the disdain of the common and making use of a language made of neologisms and fashionable turns: in "the actors of this theater of gallantry [...] the ardor of love finds its measure in the drift of the language" (Jacques Guillerme) (Jacques Guillerme). La Morlière brilliantly described the places frequented by this society: the Tuileries alleys, where petty masters and petty mistresses flitted about, the Opera House, where people came to watch and be seen without listening, and the cafés where the underworld mingled. Above all, he describes and illustrates the libertinism that was going on, as an exclusive hedonism that only accepts sentiment as the "salt of pleasures" - it is only in his conclusion, in a simple pirouette, that he invokes the notion of sincere love. However, La Morlière takes a sharp, uncompromising look at what turns out to be another kind of conformity, a fear of having to face one's own non-existence, a daze that conceals the misery of the human condition, where boredom, ugliness and old age lurk. "Angola remains like a spiritual picture of manners, a mocking document on a decadent class, which pushed the art of living to the point of imposture and refinement to the point of absurdity" (Raymond Trousson). Quoted by Rousseau in Le Persifleur, by Diderot in Les Bijoux indiscrets, or by Casanova in his Memoirs, Angola enjoyed lasting success until the end of the 18th century, despite the criticism of the men of letters whom La Morlière had attacked in his other writings. LA MORLIÈRE, "ADVENTURER OF LETTERS" (Raymond Trousson). The son of a master councillor at the Chambre des Comptes du Dauphiné, Jacques Rochette de La Morlière (1719-1785) led a chaotic life that led to his downfall. After good studies, he was placed with a prosecutor, but became undesirable because of his misbehavior (gallant affairs, brawls, duels) and was sent away to Paris in a company of musketeers... from which he was soon expelled. Insolent, provocative, a swindler, he frequented gambling dens, gun rooms, backstage theaters, and cafés where he mingled with low-level plumbers. To survive, he became a pamphleteer, attacking all the celebrities, and wrote several works of which only Angola was successful. He was caught in an affair of morals, he was exiled to Rouen where he was known for a marriage swindle and, when he returned to Paris clandestinely, he was recaptured, imprisoned and exiled. When he returned to Paris, he became the leader of a cabal at the theater, selling his services to the playwrights, organizing slaps and boos: Voltaire himself did not disdain to use his services. In Rameau's Nephew, Diderot paints a rather unattractive portrait of him as a matamore of comedy with a very loose bent. La Morlière tried his hand at the theater himself, but without success, and after another stay in prison, he fell further and further into decline, banned from the theater, unable to sell his pamphlets, and becoming a seller of fake jewelry and a matchmaker... Reduced to an obscure and villainous existence in order to escape the police, he succeeded in publishing a book in 1769, which, thanks to his flattering dedication, earned him the honor of having dinner with Madame Du Barry. He died in the last destitution. A VERY NICE COPY.
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