François-Xavier Lanthenas
Contributions
- Chronique du mois journalist
- Décadence et chute du système des finances de l'Angleterre par Th. Paine. Traduit de l'anglais par F. Lanthenas translation has translation has paratext translator
- Décadence et chute du système des finances de l'Angleterre par Th. Paine. Traduit de l'anglais par F. Lanthenas paratext author
- Dissertation sur les premiers principes de gouvernement translator
- Dissertation sur les premiers principes de gouvernement has translation has other edition translator
- La Feuille villageoise journalist
- Le Patriote français journalist
- Le Républicain, ou le Défenseur du gouvernement Réprésentatif journalist
- Le siècle de la raison, ou le Sens commun des droits de l'homme, par F. Lanthenas [...]. Suivi d'un Tableau frappant du despotisme & fanatisme ancien & moderne dédié à tous les sans-culottes de la République française & à nos descendants par le citoyen Néez, propagateur de l'esprit révolutionnaire translation author translator
- Le Siècle de la Raison, ou Recherches sur la vraie théologie et sur la théologie fabuleuse translation has other edition translator
- Le siècle de la raison, ou Recherches sur la vraie théologie et sur la théologie fabuleuse, traduit de l'anglais de Thomas Paine, par F. Lanthenas (1796 (An 4)) translation has paratext translator
- Le siècle de la raison, ou Recherches sur la vraie théologie et sur la théologie fabuleuse, traduit de l'anglais de Thomas Paine, par F. Lanthenas (1796 (An 4)) paratext author
- Liberté de la presse, très-respectueuse Adresse a l’Assemblée Nationale de France, présentée par Robert Pigot (sic), Ecuyer Anglois: L’impression de cette Adresse a été ordonnée par l’Assemblée Nationale translation translator
- Religion civile proposée aux Républiques pour lien des gouvernemens représentatifs has translation author
- Siècle de la Raison, seconde partie, ou Recherches et réflexions sur la théologie vraie et fabuleuse. Traduit de l'anglais de Thomas Payne translation has paratext translator
- Siècle de la Raison, seconde partie, ou Recherches et réflexions sur la théologie vraie et fabuleuse. Traduit de l'anglais de Thomas Payne paratext author
- Théorie et pratique des droits de l'homme, par Th. Paine, secrétaire du Congrès au département des affaires étrangères, pendant la guerre d'Amérique, auteur du Sens commun, et des Réponses à BURKE. Traduit en François, par F. Lanthenas, D.M. Et par le traducteur du Sens commun translation has paratext has other edition translator
- Théorie et pratique des droits de l'homme, par Th. Paine, secrétaire du Congrès au département des affaires étrangères, pendant la guerre d'Amérique, auteur du Sens commun, et des Réponses à BURKE. Traduit en François, par F. Lanthenas, D.M. Et par le traducteur du Sens commun paratext author
- Théorie et pratique des droits de l'homme, par Th. Payne, secrétaire du Congrès au département des affaires étrangères, pendant la guerre d'Amérique, suivis du Sens-commun, oeuvre adressé aux américains, et dans lequel on traite de l'origine & de l'objet du gouvernement, de la Constitution anglaise, de la monarchie héréditaire & de la situation de l'Amérique septentrionale. Traduit en Français, par F. Lanthenas, D. M. translation translator
Knows
- Nicolas de Bonneville bookseller journalist linguist translator writer
- Louis-Augustin-Guillaume Bosc scientist
- Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville abolitionist bookseller entrepreneur pamphleteer politician publisher translator writer
- Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet abolitionist journalist philosopher politician scientist translator writer
- Victor Desenne bookseller publisher
- Claude Fauchet cleric journalist revolutionary writer
- Antoine-Gilbert Griffet de Labaume abolitionist bookseller civil servant journalist playwright poet publisher translator writer
- Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Coudray bookseller journalist novelist playwright politician publisher writer
- Thomas Paine journalist philosopher revolutionary writer
- Robert Pigott civil servant writer
- Nicolas-Edme Rétif de la Bretonne bookseller journalist novelist pamphleteer publisher
- Jean-Louis-Antoine Reynier bookseller civil servant journalist playwright publisher scientist writer
- Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière civil servant politician scientist writer
- Marie-Jeanne Roland de la Platière revolutionary salonnière writer
- David Williams cleric philosopher translator writer
Member of
- Comité d'instruction publique political institution
- Confédération des Amis de la Vérité (Cercle Social) political organisation
- Council of Five Hundred political institution
- Girondists political organisation
- Imprimerie du Cercle Social bookseller publisher
- Jacobin Club political organisation
- National Convention political institution
- Société des Amis des Noirs political organisation
Biography
François-Xavier Lanthenas
Through the business of his father, Lanthenas became acquainted with the later minister Jean-Marie Roland de La Platière, of whom he became a protégé. Thanks to Roland’s support, Lanthenas was able to obtain a degree in medicine. He arrived in Paris in 1789 and soon became politically active. Het was a member of the Jacobin Club and collaborated to the newspaper Patriote français. He became active in the abolitionist movement, hosting meetings of the Société des Amis de Noirs at his home. Moving within Roland’s circle, he joined the Girondins. As a member of the Cercle Social, he was acquainted with Nicolas de Bonneville, Thomas Paine, Antoine Griffet de Labaume and others.
In September 1792 he was elected to the National Convention for the Rhône-et-Loire and for the Haute-Loire. He sided with the moderates. He voted for the death of Louis XVI, but under conditions. As a Girondin he became a suspect under the Terror. He was saved by Marat’s intervention, who said about him: ‘It is common knowledge that doctor Lanthernas (sic) is a simple spirit’. He later became secretary to the Convention. In the year IV he was elected to the Council of Five Hundred for Ille-et-Vilaine and seated until the year VI. After his retirement he made an unsuccessful attempt at reviving his doctor’s practice in the province. He finished his life in poverty, working as an under-commissioner in the municipal administration in Paris.
During his political career he spoke and published on various subjects, including suffrage, elections, primogeniture, education, public health care and the freedom of the press. His tract on the importance of civil religion in republics was translated anonymously into Italian as Religione civile proposta alle repubbliche, ossia Dichiarazione dei doveri dell'uomo e del cittadino (1797). Lanthenas also acted as a translator for the works of Thomas Paine, mainly within the context of the Cercle social. It is not known where Lanthenas obtained his knowledge of English.
He first collaborated with Griffet de Labaume, the translator of Common Sense, on the translation of Rights of Man. It came out in 1792 as Théorie et pratique des droits de l’homme. In a short preface the translators explained that they had omitted Paine’s reply to Burke and his dedication of the work to Lafayette, considering it ‘an insult to the free Frenchmen’ to translate these parts. In the second edition (1793) Théorie et pratique was published together with Labaume’s Sens-Commun. The book was subsequently banned in the Kingdom of Naples.
Lanthenas also authored two translations of Paine’s The Age of Reason. The first, Le Siècle de la raison, ou Le Sens commun des droits de l'homme (1793), was based on an unpublished draft of that work. It was published in Lanthenas’ own name, without mention of Paine. This incomplete version is an attack on Catholicism and religion and does not include the overt promotion of deism of the first published edition in the original English (1794). To it is added a revolutionary tract by citizen Néez, entitled Tableau frappant du despotisme & fanatisme ancien & moderne. The second translation, published in 1794, is entitled Le siècle de la raison, seconde partie. Ou Recherches sur la vraie théologie et sur la théologie fabuleuse. This time Paine is mentioned as the author and Lanthenas’ name is omitted. Lanthenas merely dedicates the translation to Paine (‘the founder and supporter of liberty in the ancient and new world’), calling himself Paine’s ‘true friend and sincere admirer’.
Lastly, Lanthenas translated Paine’s The decline and fall of the English system of finance. It appeared in 1796 as Décadence et chute du système des finances de l'Angleterre. Lanthenas’ text was translated the same year into Italian by the Jacobin physician and academic Giovanni Rasori (1766-1837).
As a translator, Lanthenas is scarcely visible. He did not write elaborate prefaces or footnotes. He did not seem to have any ambitions as a translator beyond the works of his friend and political ally Paine. His translations were nevertheless important in making Paine’s work accessible to French and Italian readers.
References
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Xavier_Lanthenas
‘François Xavier Lanthenas’, in : Adolphe ROBERT and Gaston COUGNY, Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, Edgar Bourloton, vol. 3 (Paris: Bourloton, 1891), 584-585.
Jean-Luc CHAPPEY, ‘La traduction comme pratique politique chez Antoine-Gilbert Griffet de Labaume (1756-1805)’, in: G. BERTRAND and Pierre SERNA (eds.), La République en voyage, 1770-1830 (Rennes, 2013) p. 233-243).
J.C.D. CLARK, Thomas Paine: Britain, America, and France in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).
David HOFFMAN and Claudia CARLOS, ‘Thomas Paine’s Le Siecle de la raison, ou Le Sens commun des droits de l’homme: Notes on a Curious Edition of the Age of Reason’, in: Scott CLEARY and Ivy LINTON STABELL (eds.), New Directions in Thomas Paine Studies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 133-156.
Carine LOUNISSI, Thomas Paine and the French Revolution (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
Anna Maria RAO, ‘La stampa francese a Napoli negli anni della Rivoluzione’, Mélanges de l'école française de Rome 102 (1990/2), 469-520.