Jacques Grévin
Grévin, Jacques (1538-70). French dramatist, translator, and poet. Grévin studied in Paris at the Collège de Boncourt, where the teachers included Buchanan and Muret, and where Jodelle's Cléopâtre captive was performed, probably while Grévin was a student there. His first publications, in 1558 and 1559, were occasional poems. Meanwhile he was studying medicine and received his doctorate in 1562. In 1560 his Olimpe (odes, a pastoral, satirical sonnets, and love sonnets) appeared, graced with poems by Ronsard, du Bellay, and Belleau. Grévin's surviving dramatic output consists of a tragedy and two comedies, published in 1561. César somewhat resembles an earlier Latin play, Muret's Julius Caesar (1552), but with notable differences (the introduction of Mark Antony, the representation of Caesar as hesitant and uneasy, the fact that the chorus consists of soldiers who have fought under Caesar). The comedies are among the best of their period. In La Trésorière two men compete for the love of a married woman. Amorous and financial concerns are ingeniously interwoven. In Les Ébahis, Madelon's rival lovers are an old man (who turns out to be already married), a boastful Italian soldier (mocked for his nationality, his serenading, and his cowardice), and a young lawyer (who is successful).
[Gillian Jondorf]
