Prévost d'Exiles, Antoine François (1697-1763)

French novelist. Known as Abbé Prévost, he combined a military career with his life as a monk. His Manon Lescaut 1731, the story of a destructive passion related with rare objectivity and psychological insight, inspired operas by Massenet and Puccini. It was published as part of the Mémoires d'un homme de qualité/Memoirs of a Man of Quality. Other works are Le Philosophe anglais ou Histoire de M Cleveland, fils naturel de Cromwell/The Life and Adventures of Mr Cleveland 1731-38 and Le Doyen de Killerine/The Dean of Coleraine 1735-40.

He also engaged in journalism (Le Pour et le contre/Arguments For and Against 1733-40). As the translator of Samuel Richardson's Pamela and Clarissa, Prévost exercised a considerable influence on the literature of his day.

He was born in Hesdin, Artois, and was brought up by the Jesuits, but abandoned monastic for military life, then re-entered a monastery, and finally left France for Holland and London. In 1734 he returned to Paris as chaplain to the prince de Conti.