The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

November 19, 2018

November 19, 1770

A recent assessment of today's writer, Francois-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif (1687 to November 19, 1770):

'AMONG THE conteurs and minor poets of the eighteenth century,
Francois-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif is usually remembered as
the author of L'Histoire des chats, making him the long-suffering
victim of ridicule, both jovial and venomous, on the part of his
associates. While it would be grossly misleading to deny the
general mediocrity of his works, which do not merit detailed
literary criticism, he nevertheless deserves study as one reflect-
ing, better than many of his contemporaries, manifold aspects of
French life of his period. A writer of ability in certain poetic
genres, author of popular dramatic compositions and ballets; for
many years a member of the French Academy and royal censor;
a friend or acquaintance of numerous social and intellectual
leaders, notably Voltaire; a frequenter of countless salons and
societies, Moncrif has acquired an established, if secondary,
position in the literary and social history of France during the
Age of Enlightenment.'


The source of our quote, a book length biographical work on Moncrif de Paradis, is available to view or download :  François-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif, 1687-1770, (Edward Pease Shaw, 1958).

We can summarize: the wonderful thing about Paradis de Moncrif is that he wrote the first book about, just, cats. The Cats, was first published, in French of course, in 1727. There are conflicting stories, of which the most common is that his book was jeered at, and when he took his seat in the Academie Francaise, someone hid a cat and released it crying at the right time, creating a chaotic scene.

The other, the one I prefer, and must try to further document, refines the story: Paradis de Moncrif was writing a parody of the scholarly work of that era of French society, when he wrote Les Chats.

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