Philippe Nericault Destouches

Philippe Néricault Destouches , 1680-1754, French dramatist. He was known for his moralistic comedies. Le Glorieux (1732, tr. 1791), his masterpiece, treats the conflict between the old nobility and the rising bourgeoisie.

Destouches [ Philippe Néricault] (1680–1754), French dramatist, important in the development of 18th-century drame from 17th-century comedy. He was a successor to Molière, and had already written several moderately successful comedies when in 1716 he visited London, where he contracted a secret marriage with an Englishwoman which later supplied him with the material for one of his best works, Le Philosophe marié (1727), adapted by Mrs Inchbald as The Married Man (1789). His stay in England may account for the mingling of sentiment and tragedy with comedy in his later plays, many of which were spoilt by sententiousness. His best play is Le Glorieux (1732), which portrays the struggle between the old nobility and the newly rich who are rising to power; it was translated as The School for Arrogance (1791). Destouches became a member of the French Academy in 1723.