BACULARD D'ARNAUD

Baculard d'Arnaud (1718–1805) is the most well-known of the three sentimentalists presented in these case-studies. This reputation does not rest on literary merit, but rather on his enormous popularity during the eighteenth century, amply documented in Robert L. Dawson's 1976 study. Baculard's works were constantly reprinted during his lifetime, and Les Epoux malheureux ranks as one of the most popular works of the century. Periodicals which serialised his works included the Almanack des muses, the Discoureur, the Journal des dames, the Mercure – from which he held a pension – and the Année littéraire. Grimm, despite his disdain, was obliged to acknowledge that the popularity which Baculard enjoyed must testify to talent of some kind. Baculard's reputation extended throughout Europe, and, as Dawson points out, in the restricted society formed by the republic of letters in the eighteenth century, Baculard d'Arnaud was acquainted with nearly everyone of import, ranging from Voltaire, his protector in the 1730s who eventually fell out with him in the Berlin affair, to Marie-Antoinette who possessed his works in a personally emblazoned copy. Henri Coulet concludes: