Crébillon, Prosper Jolyot De

Related Category: French Literature: Biographies

(prôspĕr´ zhôlyō´ də krābēyôN´), 1674–1762, French dramatist. His tragic melodramas, marked by violent plots, include Idoménée (1705), Électre (1708), and Rhadamiste et Zénobie (1711), which is considered his best. After a long retirement he was persuaded by Mme de Pompadour, who was seeking a rival to Voltaire, to write Catilina (1748), which was performed with great success.