Dominique Bouhours

Dominique Bouhours (May 15th 1628 with Paris - May 27th 1702 in Paris) is a man of the church, Grammairien, Historien, and writer religious French. Beautiful spirit, wanting to be continuator of Vaugelas, it exerted a considerable influence on authors such as Boileau, the Heather and Racine, which sent its parts to him to be corrected. Others reproached him its purist spirit; an anecdote apocryphal book wants that at the time of its death, he declared: “I go or I will die, one and the other is said or are said. ”

Biography

It enters at the 16 years age at the Jésuite S, then sign humanities with the college of Clermont in Paris and becomes tutor of wire of the duke of Longueville and marquis de Seignelay, wire of Colbert.

Its life as its works are shared between the Church and the world: on a side pious works and polemics against the Jansenists, other collections of worms and erudite essays on the beautiful style. “He lived, written Voltaire, in the best company of Paris; I do not speak about the Society of Jesus, but that of the society peoples the most distinguished by their spirit and their knowledge. Nobody had a style more pure and more far away from the assignment: it was even proposed in the French Academy to pass over the rules of its institution to receive the P. Bouhours in its body. ” (Article François Xavier in the Encyclopedia )

Several of its works are devoted to the defense of the Remarques on the French language of Vaugelas and to the praise of French. In the second part of her Talks with Ariste and Eugene , delivers violently attacked by Jean Barbier of Aucour in his Sentiments of Cléante on the Talks with Ariste and of Eugene but who will be a sharp success in all Europe until the Révolution, he writes for example: “Of all the pronunciations, ours is most natural and most plain. The Chinese and almost all the people of the Asia sing; the German S râlent; Spanish S déclament; the Italian S sigh; the English whistle. There are properly only the French who speak. ” And still: “There is hardly country in Europe where one does not hear François and it is not necessary of it only I do not acknowledge to you now that the knowledge of the foreign languages is not much necessary to François who travels. Where doesn't one go with our language? ” Also, in its Manner of thinking well, it lengthily reconsiders the universality of the French language and the superiority of the French spirit, topics which will make one century later the happiness of Rivarol and of its followers.

Principal works

Collection of various parts on the questions of time (1668)
Talks with Ariste and Eugene. Dialogs (1671) (Republication 2003)
Sentimens Christians to maintain the devotion during the day (1673)
Doubts about the French language (1674) (Republication 1972)
new Remarks on the language Francoise (1675) (Republication 1972)
History of Pierre d' Aubusson, large Master of Rhodos (1676)
Life of holy Ignace, founder of the Society of Jesus (1679])
Life of holy François Xavier, apostle of the Indies and Japan (1682)
Christian Thoughts for the every day of the month (1682-85)
Life of Mrs. de Bellefont, higher and founder of the monastery of the Bénédictines nuns of Nostre-Lady of the Angels (1686)
Manner of thinking well in the works of spirit (1687) (Republication 1974)
Thought clever of old and modern the (1689) (Republication 1971)
Collection of selected worms (1693)
the New Testament of Nostre Lord Jesus-Christ, translated into franc̜ois according to the Vulgate (1697-1703)

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