Françoise de Graffigny, Cénie [Cénie]

Christina Ionescu (Mount Allison University)

Ed. by Síofra Pierse, University College Dublin, Jenny Mander, University of Cambridge
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.04: French Writing and Culture: Eighteenth-Century and the Enlightenment, 1700-1800.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Jenny Mander (University of Cambridge), Síofra Pierse (University College Dublin), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1751

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Portrait of Françoise de Graffigny writing Cénie by Pierre-Augustin Clavareau, Musée du Château des Lumières, Lunéville, France, inv. 2011.2.1.

Classed among the most popular plays of the eighteenth century, Cénie premiered at the Théâtre-Français in Paris on 25 June 1750, immediately becoming a smash hit (Figure 1). It was performed twenty-five times during the summer and winter runs that year, and drew 18,892 spectators who received it with thunderous applause and floods of tears — an unanticipated success that turned its author into a sought-after celebrity. On the advice of the retired actress and Bout-du-Banc hostess Jeanne Quinault, Graffigny had written the play in prose, which was deemed a more suitable and less perilous undertaking than verse for a female playwright

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4232 words

Citation: Ionescu, Christina. "Cénie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 January 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30475, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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