author
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux
1688–1763
Best known simply as Marivaux, he brought wit, surprise, and emotional precision to French comedy. His plays turn courtship into a game of language, where every hesitation and hidden feeling matters.
1 Audiobook
A Selection from the Comedies of Marivaux
by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux
About the author
Born in Paris on February 4, 1688, Marivaux became one of the most distinctive French writers of the 18th century. He studied law but was drawn instead to literature, journalism, and the lively world of Parisian salons, where conversation and social nuance helped shape his style.
He is especially remembered for comedies such as The Game of Love and Chance and The Triumph of Love. His writing is famous for its delicate analysis of attraction, class, disguise, and self-deception, so much so that the term marivaudage came to be associated with a subtle, refined way of speaking about love.
Marivaux also wrote novels and worked as a journalist, and he was elected to the Académie française in 1742. He died in Paris on February 12, 1763, leaving behind plays that still feel lively because they understand how people test one another, protect themselves, and fall in love through words.