Anne Dacier was born in Paris in about 1651. She would grow up to have a deep love of ancient literature and gained fame as the translator into French of many classic works, including the Iliad and the Odyssey, having initially studied Latin and ancient Greek under her father’s tutelage.
Anne was known not just for the high quality of her work but also for how prolific she was, as she was commissioned to produce high-quality French translations of many classic works. From 1685, following her conversion to Catholicism, she also devoted herself to theology, even as she continued her work in translating classic authors like Plutarch and Marcus Aurelius.
While nobody queried the quality of Dacier’s work, not everyone was a fan.
Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant complained that “A Woman who has a head full of Greek, like Mme. Dacier… should also wear a beard; for that might perhaps better express the mien of depth for which they strive.”
Dacier’s work on the classics, and especially her work on Aristotle – whom she regarded as a fount of pedagogical thinking – continues to impact on French philosophy to the present.
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