La valeur du Paysan parvenu : du réalisme à la gaillardise

The realistic tone of Jacob’s social rise as well as the importance of individual merit could set this novel, Le Paysan parvenu, as the mouthpiece of the rising middle-class that can eventually play a part in novels. However, Marivaux is not a forerunner of the 19th century novelists: the value of this work is also due to the structure of the “roman-mémoires” and, above all, to the lightness of this “sparkling” novel in which pleasure is a fundamental value. More than the description of a society, Marivaux depicts the energy of a sharp and cheerful spirit, with an impetus that interrupts for a while the deep and long developments of La Vie de Marianne.