Théophile de Viau

Adam Horsley (University of Exeter)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.03: French Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century: Classical and Baroque, 1600-1700.
Vol. editors: Heather Kirk (University of Western Ontario), Kathrina LaPorta (New York University), Polly Mangerson (DePaul University), Julia Prest (University of St Andrews), Allison Stedman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 1590
Died 25 Sep 1626
Activity 1620-1626

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Poet

Resources

Théophile de Viau was born in April 1590, near Clairac in the Agenois province of France. He was born into a Protestant family headed by Jacques de Viau – a lawyer who had been forced to retreat to his lands in Boussères by the French civil wars. It was Jacques who began Théophile’s instruction before sending him away to complete his education. Théophile was sent to the college of Nérac at around the turn of the century, followed by Montauban, Bordeaux and Saumur. In his later years as a student – from 1609 to 1611 – Théophile was more focused on exploring the freedoms of youth than on his education which, ultimately, he failed to complete. In 1611 he found lodgings with his uncle in Paris, a point in his life that marked t…

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3270 words

Citation: Horsley, Adam. "Théophile de Viau". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 August 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13270, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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