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VICTOR JOSEPH ETIENNE DE JOUY (1764-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 525 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VICTOR JOSEPH ETIENNE DE JOUY (1764-1846)  , French dramatist, was born at Jouy, near
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Versailles, on the 12th of September 1764 . At the age of eighteen he received a commission in the army, and sailed for South
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America in the
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company of the governor of Guiana . He returned almost immediately to France to
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complete his studies, and re-entered the service two years later . He was sent to India, where he met with many romantic adventures which were afterwards turned to
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literary account . On the outbreak of the Revolution he returned to France and served with distinction in the early
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campaigns, attaining the rank of adjutant-general . He drew suspicion on himself, however, by refusing to honour the
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toast of Marat, and had to fly for his
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life . At the fall of the Terror he resumed hiscommission but again fell under suspicion, being accused of treasonable correspondence with the
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English envoy, James Harris, 1st
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earl of Malmesbury who had been sent to France to negotiate terms of peace . He was acquitted of this charge, but, weary of repeated attacks, resigned his position on the pretext of his numerous wounds . Jouy now turned his attention to literature, and produced in 1807 with immense success his opera La vestale (
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music by Spontini) . The piece ran for a
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hundred nights, and was characterized by the Institute of France as the best lyric drama of the day . Other operas followed, but none obtained so
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great a success . He published in the
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Gazette de France a series of satirical sketches of Parisian life, collected under the title of L'Ermite de la Chaussee d'Antin, ou observations sur
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les mceurs et les usages francais au commencement du xixe siecle (1812-1814, 5 vols.), which was warmly received .

In 1821 his tragedy of Sylla gained a

triumph due in
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part to the genius of Talma, who had studied the title-role from
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Napoleon . Under the Restoration Jouy consistently fought for the cause of freedom, and if his
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work was overrated by his contemporaries, they were probably influenced by their respect for the author himself . He died in rooms set apart for his use in the palace of St Germain-en-Laye on the 4th of September 1846 . Out of the long list of his operas, tragedies and
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miscellaneous writings may be mentioned, Fernand Cortez (1809), opera, in collaboration with J . E . Esmenard, music by Spontini; Tippo Saib, tragedy (1813); Belisaire, tragedy (1818); Les Hermites en prison (1823), written in collaboration with Antoine Jay, like himself a
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political prisoner; Guillaume Tell (1829), with Hippolyte Bis, for the music of Rossini . Jouy was also one of the founders of the Biographie nouvelle
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des contemporains .

End of Article: VICTOR JOSEPH ETIENNE DE JOUY (1764-1846)
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