Senancour

Senancour, ETIENNE PIVERT DE (1770-1846), French metaphysician, was born at Paris, and was destined by his parents for the priesthood, but he ran away, and, going to Switzerland, married there. Financial embarrassment drove him back to Paris, where he began to write for a livelihood. During the reign of Louis Philippe he was granted a pension. His principal works are his Obermann (1804) and L'Amour considere dans les lois reelles (1805), which have been often reprinted. He was much influenced by Rousseau, and wrote several sentimental reveries of a deistical nature.