Antoine Houdar de la Motte
French author (1672–1731)
Antoine Houdar de la Motte (18 January 1672 – 26 December 1731) was a French writer.
De la Motte was born and died in Paris. In 1693 his comedy, Les Originaux (Les originaux, ou, l'Italien), was a complete failure, and so depressed the author that he contemplated joining the Trappists. Four years later he began writing texts for operas and ballets, e.g. L'Europe galante (1697), and tragedies, one of which, Inès de Castro (1723), was an immense success at the Theâtre Français. He was a champion of the moderns in the revived controversy of the ancients and moderns. His Fables nouvelles (1719) was regarded as a modernist manifesto. Anne Dacier had published (1711) a translation of the Iliad, and La Motte, who knew no Greek, made a translation (1714) in verse founded on her work.
He said of his own work: "I have taken the liberty to change what I thought disagreeable in it." He defended the moderns in the Discours sur Homère prefixed to his translation, and in his Réflexions sur la critique (1716). Apart from the merits of the controversy, it was conducted on La Motte's side with a wit and politeness which compared very favourably with his opponents' methods.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Antoine Houdar de la Motte” is french author (1672–1731). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Antoine, Houdar and Motte, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “french author (1672–1731)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q586389. VIAF identifies the subject as 24611020. The Library of Congress control number is n83206700. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1672, 1731, 1693 and 1697.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Antoine Houdar de la Motte”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Antoine Houdar de la Motte primary sources, Antoine Houdar de la Motte archive and Antoine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Antoine Houdar de la Motte”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Antoine Houdar de la Motte” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.