cyrano de bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac Born 6 March 1619(1619-03-06)

Paris, France Died 28 July 1655 (aged 36)

Paris, France Occupation Playwright, Military Bust of Cyrano.

Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French dramatist and duelist who is now best remembered for the many works of fiction which have been woven around his life story. In these fictional works he is featured with an overly large nose; portraits suggest that he did have a big nose, though not nearly as large as described in Edmond Rostand's play and the subsequent works about him. A statue of him stands in the town of Bergerac, Dordogne. Contents [hide] 1 Life and works 2 In fiction, film, theater, and opera 3 See also 4 External links //

Life and works

Cyrano de Bergerac — born Savinien de Cyrano — was born into an old Parisian family and spent much of his childhood in Saint-Forget (now Yvelines). He went to school in Paris and spent his adult life there when he was not on a military campaign. He was not, therefore, a Gascon. Many of his fellow soldiers would have been Gascons, and their swashbuckling manner was much admired; so he may have cultivated a myth of Gascon origins. Although it is true that he was a popular poet and a fine swordsman who fought many duels, his abilities were embellished by Rostand, the playwright of Cyrano de Bergerac. Cyrano de Bergerac's writings do, in fact, indicate that he had an unusually large nose, of which he was quite proud.

Though not as famous as his classical contemporaries, Bergerac was a successful writer. The playwright Molière even borrowed a scene from Le Pédant Joué. Bergerac's most prominent works are his duo of proto-science fiction novels,The Other World: The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon (1657) and "The Comical History of the States and the Empires of the Sun" (unfinished at his death) which describe fictional journeys to the Moon and Sun. The methods of space travel he described are inventive, often ingenious, and sometimes rooted in science. They reflect the materialist philosophy of which Bergerac was a devotee. Bergerac's primary purpose in writing those early science fiction novels was to criticize subtly the anthropocentric view of man's place in creation, as well as the social injustices of the 17th century. The Other World was subjected to censorship.

There has been considerable speculation among historians and other scholars about his sexuality. It is believed that around 1640 he became the lover of Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy, a writer and musician, until around 1653, when they became engaged in a bitter rivalry. This led to Bergerac sending d'Assoucy death threats that compelled him to leave Paris. The quarrel extended to a series of satirical texts by both men. Bergerac wrote Contre Soucidas (an anagram of his enemy's name) and Contre un ingrat ("Against an Ingrate"), while D’Assoucy