Beaumarchais: The Man Who Was Figaro

By Frédéric Grendel and Grendel, Frederic,

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0690012101
• ISBN13: 9780690012101
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Thomas Y. Crowell
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating man, reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin

Grendel's biography is passionate, at times argumentative. He defends Beaumarchais' reputation against what I must assume is a tendency to dismiss him as a mere librettist for the (more important) Mozart operas. Beaumarchais rises from the middle class and embodies the emerging ideals of freedom, self-determinism and meritocracy. There are fun, fascinating tidbits, stories illuminating life "backstage" at Versailles. There are so many ironies, and Grendel plays them all up brilliantly. After reading this, if you're still interested in the subject, check out the French movie, Beaumarchais, the Scoundrel (with English subtitles). It follows the same narrative pretty closely, to good effect.

An amazing life, wicked interesting

A well written book, this biography could not fail to hold one's interest Beaumarchais's life reads like a Hollywood story. A watchmaker's son, that invents a new escapement for his watches whereupon a renowned watchmaker steals the design and claims it as his own. Beaumarchais invokes the legal system, justice is done, but the legal case catches the eye of the King, Beaumarchais then becomes watchmaker to the King, later his musical talents are noted and he also becomes the music tutor for the royal family, and thus began a career that included, fortunes made and lost in business speculations, lawsuits, duels, and pamphleteering to defend his honor against his enemies. He became a most sucessful playwright, author of the classic - "The Marriage of Figaro". Beaumarchais was a survior of the French revolution, a government secret agent and a businessman that went deeply into debt to lend money for arms and ammunition to the young United States, a debt that was only begrudgingly repaid to Beaumarchais's heirs many years later. The author appears to have done his research. There are many references cited. There is a little in Beaumarchais's life to hold anyone's interest.