Marmontel, Jean François (1723–1799)

French novelist and dramatist. He wrote tragedies and libretti, and contributed articles on literature to the Encyclopédie, which were later republished as Eléments de littérature/Elements of Literature (1787). In 1758 he obtained control of the journal Le Mercure/The Mercury, in which his Contes moraux/Moral Studies (1761) appeared. Other works include the historical romances Bélisaire/Belisarius (1767) and Les Incas/The Incas (1777).

Marmontel was appointed historiographer of France 1771, secretary to the Académie 1783, and professor of history at the Lycée 1786, but retired 1792 to write his Mémoires d'un père/Memoirs of a Father 1804.