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Robert-Martin Lesuire (1737, Rouen - 17 April 1815) was a French writer. Several of his works are forerunners of crime fiction - a French dictionary of the subject states that "by the richness of his themes, he inspired a number of writers of popular crime novels in the 19th century". [1] He was also a member of Rouen's Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts.
He was from a nephew of the enameller Pierre-André Le Suire. On leaving college, he became reader to the Infante of Spain in Paris, following him to Italy before visiting England. Towards the end of the French Revolution he was made professor of legislation at the école centrale in Moulins but lost that position when lycées were set up. On returning to Paris, he wrote to order for booksellers in order to make a living. [2]
Quérard wrote of Lesuire that:
The success of some of the several publications Lesuire launched upon the public each year made him believe he was a genius and he placed no limits on his manner of writing. Without taste, without judgement, he abused his spirit and his imagination to dress the most bizarre and the most inconsistent ideas in an incorrect and trivial style [3]
His first novel Les Sauvages de l’Europe (The Savages of Europe, 1760) was a burlesque satire of England in which two young Frenchmen, Sansor and Tintine, who enthusiastically travel to England, thinking it more democratic than France. However, they suffer all sorts of misadventures and discover nothing but abominations - inhabitants halfway between man and beast, riots, hangings, hypocrisy, corruption, ever-present Francophobia and appalling food. Finally they adjudge it an island of savages and return to France, vowing never to return. The book saw some success and was translated into English and re-published in France.
His most famous novel remains L'Aventurier françois (The French Adventurer, 1782), which Quérard calls a "cluster of incoherent follies", adding that in his opinion it "delighted frivolous readers" until the issue of the third set of books in the series, at which point the public lost interest. It narrated the adventures and extraordinary travels of Grégoire Merveil, including his discovery of a subterranean people of old criminals. Accused of murder, he had to make his own inquiries to discover and confound the real murderer. [1] Le Crime (1789) tells of the imprisonment of the young man César de Perlencour who is released from jail and falls into the hands of a curious secret society, the "Société souterraine" or underground society. [1] That character returned and was found innocent in his next novel, Le Repentir (1789).
He left behind several manuscripts, several of which are erotic or pornographic. Emile Queruau-Lamerie owned manuscripts of songs by Lesuire and his friends. Lesuire gave Laval library (fr) a manuscript of a play and to Louis Garnier, an architect in Laval, a manuscript of his four-volume novel entitled "L'Aventurier Français".
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