Jean Hesnault

Jean Hesnault (or Hénaut, Dehénault, d'Hénault, de Hénault), 1611–1682, was a French poet, libertine in morals and thought, friend of Molière and Chapelle.

In addition to his original production, he translated Latin poems with a materialist tendency (beginning of De natura rerum by Lucretius, chorus of the second act of the Troade by Seneca... ).

Editions

 * Œuvres diverses..., Paris, 1670.
 * Dialogues ou Entretiens..., Rouen, 1709. (Same content as the previous edition.)
 * Pieces published in various collections.
 * Œuvres, ed. by Fr. Lachèvre, Paris, Champion, 1922.
 * Some poems of Hénault can be found in Alain Niderst, La poésie à l'âge baroque, Paris, Laffont, coll. Bouquins, 2005, pp. 767–774.

Studies

 * René Pintard, Le libertinage érudit dans la première moitié du XVIIe siècle, Paris, 1943, 2 volumes. (Repr. Slatkine, 1995, 2000, 2003.)
 * René Pintard : « Un ami mal connu de Molière : Jean de Hénault », Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France, septembere-October 1972, p. 954-975.
 * Alain Niderst : « Jean Hénault (suite) », Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France, septembre-|octobre 1978, p. 707-721.