Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de

French novelist and dramatist. His sophisticated comedies deal primarily with love and include Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard/The Game of Love and Chance (1730) and Les Fausses Confidences/False Confidences (1737). He wrote two novels: La Vie de Marianne/The Life of Marianne (1731–41), the study of a young girl written with much psychological insight, which has autobiographical elements; and Le Paysan parvenu/The Fortunate Villager (1735–36), which gives a broader picture of French society. Both were left incomplete.

Marivaux was a master of brilliant dialogue, full of veiled avowals and subtle indications, and he gave the word marivaudage (oversubtle lovers' conversation) to the French language.