Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. II, 1949 Literature

Augier, Émile

AUGIER, EMILE

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AUGIER, ÉMILE. - Dramatic author b. at Valence in 1820, d. in 1889. A continuator of Ponsard, he in turn reacted against Romanticism, causing what was called the "school of common sense" to triumph on the French stage. He was the playwright of the bourgeois class. He defended in his own way the principle of the legitimate family.

Around his masterpiece, Le gendre de M. Poirier (1855), are grouped his "family comedies," which are: Un beau mariage (1859), Les lionnes pauvres (1858), Le mariage d'Olympe (1855), L'aventurière (1848), Gabrielle

(1849), Maître Guérin (1864). To these should be added Madame Caverlet (1876), in which divorce is justified.

He asserted his political ideas in the comedies: Les effrontés (1861) and Le fils de Giboyer (1862), defaming Catholic journalism and "religious royalism." Another comedy, Lions et renards (1869), is a slanderous satire of the Jesuits.

A bourgeois Molière, he was an expert and effective constructor of scenes, in which, however, the old theatrical formulas are still to be found. His satire is often coarse and broad. His lay and bourgeois "morality" earned him applause, influence and honors. Catholic polemicists fought him vigorously.

Bibliography4 works
BIBL.: In addition to the collections of writings on the theater by F. Sarcey, J. Lemaître, L. Lacour, P. de Saint-Victor, cf. P. Morillot, E. A., Grenoble 1901; H. Gaillard de Champris, E. A., Paris 1911; J. Marsan, Théâtre d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, ibid. 1926; S. D'Amico, Storia del teatro drammatico, IV, Milan 1941.

Francesco Cannati

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By Francesco Casnati

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Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), coll. 393–394.

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Page 249
vol. 2, coll. 393–394

More by Francesco Casnati: Aubigné, Théodore-Agrippa d' · Baudelaire, Charles-Pierre · Adam de la Halle · About, Edmond · Chateaubriand, François-René de

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Chicago

Casnati, Francesco. “Augier, emile.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, coll. 393–394. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/augier-emile.

MLA

Casnati, Francesco. “Augier, emile.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 393–394. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/augier-emile.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec2_augier_emile,
  author    = {Casnati, Francesco},
  title     = {Augier, emile},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {II},
  pages     = {393--394},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1949},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/augier-emile}
}

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