Lesage or Le Sage, Alain Ren� 1668-1747
French novelist and dramatist

He was born in Sarzeau, Brittany, and in 1692 went to Paris to study law, but an early marriage drove him to seek his fortune in literature. The Abb� de Lionne, who had a good Spanish library, allowed Lesage free access to it, with a pension of 600 livres, and in 1700 he published two plays in imitation of Rojas and Lope de Vega. In 1707 Don C�sar Ursin, from Pedro Calder�n de la Barca, was played with success at court, and the following year the Th��tre Fran�ais showed interest in the play which later became his famous Turcaret. As a novelist his reputation rests on Gil Blas (4 vols, 1715-35). Later works include Bachelier de Salamanque (1736-38, 'The Bachelor of Salamanque') and a volume of letters, La Valise trouv�e (1740, 'A Suitcase Discovered'). The death of his son (1743), a promising actor, and his own increasing infirmities, made him abandon Paris and literary life, and he retreated to Boulogne, where he lived until his death. Some critics deny originality to one who borrowed ideas, incidents and tales from others as Lesage did, but he was a great raconteur and the first to perceive the capabilities of the picaresque novel.

Bibliography: E Lintilhac, Alain Le Sage (1893)