Michel-Jean Sedaine
born June 2, 1719, Paris, Fr.
died May 17, 1797, Paris
French dramatist who is best known as
the author of a fine domestic comedy, Le
Philosophe sans le savoir (1765; “The
Philosopher Without Knowledge”).
The son of a master builder, Sedaine
began his career as a stonemason. In
1752 he published a volume of poetry,
and his theatrical career began in 1756,
when he wrote librettos for some light
operas. He was made destitute by the
French Revolution and in 1795 was
deprived of his membership in the French
Academy, to which he had been elected in
1786.
Although he had a number of successes
during his career, Le Philosophe sans le
savoir is the only one of his plays to
have endured. It was censored when it
first appeared, because of its treatment
of dueling, and was not played in the
original version until 1875. It is less
a play of ideas, however, than a
textbook example of the new “bourgeois”
drama called for by the philosopher
Denis Diderot; mixing tragic and comic
situations, it presents a charming,
sentimental, and idealized picture of
life in the family of a wealthy
merchant. Sedaine defends middle-class
values not only in his criticism of
aristocratic prejudice but also in the
illustration of the virtues of commerce
and of a rational concept of honour. The
play enjoyed some popularity during the
19th century, but it is now considered
to retain chiefly only historical
interest.
