Louis-Antoine Caraccioli

Marquis Louis-Antoine Caraccioli (6 November 1719 – 29 May 1803) was a prolific French writer, poet, historian, and biographer long considered an "enemy of Philosophy" because of his extensive writings as a religious apologist.

Life Caraccioli was born in Paris to a noble family of Neapolitan origin, and held the title of Marquis. He studied in Mans and travelled in Italy, Germany and Poland and returned to Paris around 1768.

One of his most studied and collected books, Les adieux de la Maréchale de *** à ses enfants (1769) (trans. Advice from a Lady of Quality to her Children, in the Last Stage of a Lingering Illness, In a Series of Evening-Conferences on the Most Interesting Subjects) was written in a series of "conferences" or meetings, which substitute for chapters or the more common use of letters. Unlike most courtesy books, Caraccioli's has the semblance of a plot and reads somewhat like a novel, which ends with the death of the main character. Caraccioli's work evolved a great deal over the half-century in which it was produced, and gradually reflected many modern values. Today many of his books are collected by various libraries throughout Europe and America, especially the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA.

Major works

, translated to English as "Life of Pope Clement XIV" in 1776 by Charles Cordell , translated to English as "Letters of Pope Clement XIV" in 1777 by Charles Cordell Voyage de la raison en Europe