Jacques Pradon

Who was Jacques Pradon?

Jacques Pradon, often called Nicolas Pradon, was a French playwright. Early in his career, he was helped by Pierre Corneille and was introduced to the salons at the Hôtel de Nevers and the Hôtel de Bouillon by Madame Deshoulières.

Pradon was born in Rouen and is the author of eight tragedies: Pyrame et Thisbé, Tamerlan, ou la mort de Bajazet, Phèdre et Hippolyte, La Troade, Statira, Regulus, Germanicus and Scipion. His plays enjoyed a certain limited success, but were severely judged by his rival Jean Racine, who also wrote tragedies based on the stories of Bajazet and Phaedra, and Racine's supporter Nicolas Boileau. This rivalry was particularly intense when Pradon brought out his Phèdre et Hippolyte at the same time as Racine's Phèdre, and throughout his life Pradon wrote several attacks on Boileau. He died in Paris.