8/6/2020 Antoine de Rivarol - Wikipedia

Antoine de Rivarol
Antoine de Rivarol (26 June 1753 – 11 April 1801) was a
Antoine de Rivarol
Royalist[1] French writer and translator who lived during the
Revolutionary era.[2][3] He was briefly married to the translator
Louisa Henrietta de Rivarol.

Contents
Biography
Works
References
Further reading
External links

Portrait of Antoine de Rivarol, by

Biography Melchior Wyrsch.
Born Antoine Rivaroli
Rivarol was born in Bagnols, Languedoc. It appears that his 26 June 1753
father, an innkeeper, was a cultivated man. The son assumed the Bagnols, Languedoc,
title of comte de Rivarol, asserting a connection with the noble Kingdom of France
Italian family Riveroli, although his enemies said his name was Died 11 April 1801
really "Riverot" and that he was not of noble stock. After various (aged 47)
vicissitudes, he went to Paris in 1777 and won several academic Berlin, Brandenburg,
prizes.[4] Holy Roman Empire

In 1780 he married Louisa Henrietta de Rivarol, a translator of Occupation Journalist

Scottish descent. She had translated some works by Samuel Nationality French
Johnson and Johnson had become a friend of her family. Antoine
Rivarol abandoned his wife after a short relationship which resulted in the birth of a son.[5] To
Rivarol's embarrassment, a nurse who supported his abandoned wife was awarded a prize for
virtuous behavior by the Académie française. Antoine was unable to quash the prize but he was able
to keep his wife's name out of the report of the award. He was divorced in 1784.[5]

In 1784, his Discours sur l'Universalité de la Langue Française and his translation of Dante's Inferno
were favourably noted.[6][7] The year before the French Revolution broke out, he and Champcenetz
published a lampoon, titled Petit Almanach de nos grands hommes pour 1788, that ridiculed without
pity a number of writers of proven or future talent, along with a great many nobodies.[8]

Rivarol was the foremost journalist, commentator and epigrammatist among that faction of
aristocrats which was most stalwartly conservative: he heaped scorn upon republicanism and
defended the Ancien Régime.[9][10]

Rivarol's writing was published in the Journal Politique of Antoine Sabatier de Castres and the Actes
des Apotres of Jean Gabriel Peltier. He left France in 1792, first settling in Brussels, then moving
successively to London, Hamburg, and Berlin, where he died. Rivarol's rivals in France – in sharp
conversational sayings – included Alexis Piron and Nicolas Chamfort.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Rivarol 1/4
8/6/2020 Antoine de Rivarol - Wikipedia

His brother, Claude François (1762–1848), was also an author. His works include a novel, Isman,
ou le Fatalisme (1795); a comedy, Le Véridique (1827); and the history Essai sur les Causes de la
Révolution Française (1827).

He died as exile in Berlin and was interred in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery, but the site of his grave
was soon forgotten.[11]

Works
(1782). Lettre Critique sur le Poème des Jardins.
(1783). Lettre à M. le Président de *** sur le globe Airostatique, sur les Têtes Parlantes et sur
l’État Présent de l’Opinion Publique à Paris.
(1784). De l’Universalité de la Langue Française.
(1785). L’Enfer, Poème du Dante.
(1787). Récit du Portier du Sieur Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.
(1788). Le Petit Almanach de nos Grands Hommes.
(1788). Première Lettre à M. Necker, sur l’Importance des Opinions Religieuses.
(1788). Seconde Lettre à M. Necker sur la Morale.
(1788). Le Songe d’Athalie (with Louis de Champcenetz).
(1789). Mémoire sur la Nature et la Valeur de l’Argent.
(1789). Le Petit Almanach de nos Grandes Femmes (with Louis de Champcenetz).
(1789). Journal Politique-national des États-Généraux et de la Révolution de 1789.
(1789). Adresse à MM. les Impartiaux ou Les Amis de la Paix Réunis chez Monseigneur le Duc
de La Rochefoucault.
(1790). Petit Dictionnaire des Grands Hommes de la Révolution (with Louis de Champcenetz).
(1790). Triomphe de l’Anarchie.
(1790). Épître de Voltaire à Mlle Raucour, actrice du Théâtre-français.
(1790). Le Petit Almanach de nos Grands-hommes.
(1790). Réponse à la réponse de M. de Champcenetz au sujet de l’ouvrage de madame la B. de
S*** sur Rousseau.
(1791). Essai sur la Nécessité du Mal.
(1792). De la Vie Politique.
(1792). Lettre à la Noblesse Française, au Moment de sa Rentrée en France sous les Ordres de
M. le duc de Brunswick, Généralissime des Armées de l’Empereur et du Roi de Prusse.
(1792). Le Petit Almanach des Grands Spectacles de Paris.
(1793). Adresse du Peuple Belge, à S. M. l’Empereur.
(1795). Histoire Secrète de Coblence dans la Révolution Française.
(1797). Tableau Historique et Politique des Travaux de l’Assemblée Constituante, depuis
l’Ouverture des États Généraux jusqu’après la Journée du 6 Octobre 1789.
(1797). Discours Préliminaire du Nouveau Dictionnaire de la Langue Française.
(1808). Œuvres Complètes, Précédées d’une Notice sur sa Vie [5 vol.].

References
1. Beum, Robert (1997). "Ultra-Royalism Revisited," (http://www.unz.org/Pub/ModernAge-1997q3-0
0290) Modern Age 39 (3), p. 316.
2. Faÿ, Bernard (1978). Rivarol et la Révolution. Paris: Librairie Académique Perin.
3. Baranger, Valérie (2007). Rivarol Face à la Révolution Française. Éditions de Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Rivarol 2/4
8/6/2020 Antoine de Rivarol - Wikipedia

4. Barth, Hans (1960). "Antoine de Rivarol and the French Revolution." In: The Idea of Order:
Contributions to a Philosophy of Politics. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., p. 49.
5. J. G. Alger, ‘Rivarol , Louisa Henrietta de (b. before 1750, d. 1821)’, rev. Rebecca Mills, Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 6 Dec 2014 (http://ww
w.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23687,)
6. Kerslake, Lawrence (1981). "Rivarol's Evaluation and Translation of Dante," Studies on Voltaire
and the Eighteenth Century 12, pp. 81–105.
7. Osen, James L. (1995). Royalist Political Thought During the French Revolution. Greenwood
Publishing Group, p. 31.
8. "Antoine de Rivarol," Nation 32, No. 834, (23 June 1881): 438–439.
9. Lefebvre, Georges (1962). The French Revolution. 1. New York: Columbia University Press.
p. 141.
10. Matyaszewski, Paweł (1997). La Pensée Politique d'Antoine de Rivarol. Lublin: Towarzystwo
Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego.
11. Ernst Jünger, Rivarol, 1956 (German quote at books.google.de (https://books.google.com/books?
id=-bO9JNBSjU4C&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=Rivarol+grabst%C3%A4tte)); German article at
Tödliche Pointen flirren durch die Pariser Salons (http://m.welt.de/print/die_welt/literatur/article108
476783/Toedliche-Pointen-flirren-durch-die-Pariser-Salons.html), Wolf Lepenies, Die Welt,
04.08.12
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rivarol, Antoine de" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclo
p%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Rivarol,_Antoine_de). Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. p. 373.

Further reading
Bauër, Gérard (1962). Les Moralistes Français: La Rochefoucauld; La Bruyère; Vauvenargues;
Chamfort; Rivarol; Joubert. Paris: Editions A. Michel.
Campbell, Gertrude E. (1892). "Rivarol," (https://archive.org/stream/nationalreview1918unse#pag
e/746/mode/2up) National Review, Vol. XIX, pp. 747–761.
Cointat, Michel (2003). Rivarol (1753–1801): Un Écrivain Controversé. Paris: L'Harmattan.
Coski, Christopher (2011). From Barbarism to Universality: Language and Identity in Early
Modern France. University of South Carolina Press.
Darnton, Robert (1982). The Literary Underground of the Old Regime. Harvard University Press.
Debidour, Victor-Henry (1956). Rivarol, Écrits Politiques et Littéraires Choisis et Présentés. Paris:
Grasset.
De Lescure, Mathurin (1882). Rivarol et la Société Française pendant la Révolution et
l'Émigration. Paris: E. Plon et Cie.
Latzarus, Louis (1926). La Vie Paresseuse de Rivarol. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie.
Law, Reed G. (1959). "Rivarol's 'Morale Indépendante' and Pascal," Criticism 1 (3), pp. 249–257.
Le Breton, André (1895). Rivarol, sa Vie, ses Idées. Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie.
Lessay, Jean (1989). Rivarol, le Français par Excellence. Paris: Perrin.
Matyaszewski, Paweł (1990). "Le Conservatisme Éclairé de Rivarol," Revue d'Histoire littéraire de
la France, 90e Année, No. 4/5, pp. 622–630.
McMahon, Darrin M. (2001). Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment
and the Making of Modernity. Oxford University Press.
Jünger, Ernest (1974). Rivarol et Autres Essais. Paris: Grasset.
Roche, Alphonse Victor (1937). Les Idées Traditionalistes en France de Rivarol À Charles
Maurras. The University of Illinois.
Saintsbury, George (1892). "Chamfort and Rivarol." (https://archive.org/stream/miscellaneousess
00sain#page/42/mode/2up) In: Miscellaneous Essays. London: Percival & Co., pp. 43–80.
Treich, Léon (1926). L’Esprit de Rivarol. Paris: Gallimard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Rivarol 3/4
8/6/2020 Antoine de Rivarol - Wikipedia

External links
Works by Antoine Rivarol (https://www.gutenberg.org/author/Rivarol,+Antoine) at Project
Gutenberg
Works by or about Antoine de Rivarol (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3
A%22Rivarol%2C%20Antoine%20de%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20Antoine%
20d%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20A%2E%20d%2E%22%20OR%20subje
ct%3A%22Antoine%20de%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Antoine%20d%2E%20Riv
arol%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22A%2E%20d%2E%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20subject%3A%
22Rivarol%2C%20Antoine%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Antoine%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20c
reator%3A%22Antoine%20de%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Antoine%20d%2E%20
Rivarol%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22A%2E%20d%2E%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20creator%3
A%22A%2E%20de%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20Antoine%20de%
22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20Antoine%20d%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%
22Rivarol%2C%20A%2E%20d%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20A%2E%20d
e%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Antoine%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rivarol%2
C%20Antoine%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Antoine%20de%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20title%3A%
22Antoine%20d%2E%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20title%3A%22A%2E%20d%2E%20Rivarol%22%
20OR%20title%3A%22Antoine%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Antoine%20de%2
0Rivarol%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Antoine%20d%2E%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20desc
ription%3A%22A%2E%20d%2E%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20
Antoine%20de%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rivarol%2C%20Antoine%20d%2E%22%20O
R%20description%3A%22Antoine%20Rivarol%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rivarol%2C%
20Antoine%22%29%20OR%20%28%221753-1801%22%20AND%20Rivarol%29%29%20AND%
20%28-mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antoine_de_Rivarol&oldid=968275214"

This page was last edited on 18 July 2020, at 10:41 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Rivarol 4/4