Left an orphan at the age of nine, La Harpe was taken care of for six months by the Sisters of Charity, and his education was provided for by a scholarship at the Collège d'Harcourt, now known as the Lycée Saint-Louis.

The success of Warwick led to a correspondence with Voltaire, who conceived a high opinion of La Harpe, even allowing him to correct his verses.

When, after Voltaire's death, La Harpe in his praise of the philosopher ventured on some reasonable, but rather ill-timed, criticism of individual works, he was accused of treachery to one who had been his constant friend.

Marmontel, who received him, used the occasion to eulogize La Harpe's predecessor, Charles-Pierre Colardeau, especially for his pacific, modest and indulgent disposition.

In these lectures, published as the Cours de littérature ancienne et moderne, La Harpe is considered to have been at his best, finding a standpoint more or less independent of contemporary polemics.

It is a somber description of a dinner-party of notables long before the Revolution, in which Jacques Cazotte is made to prophesy the frightful fates awaiting the various individuals of the company.

A particular mention must be made of Mélanie, ou les Vœux forcés, that the author had printed in 1770 but which was not played before 7 December 1791 at the Théâtre français.

The topic - forced wishes - could suit anticlericalism that La Harpe showed when he composed this piece but much less censorship of the time, which is why it was played after the French Revolution.

Moreover, his Correspondance littéraire addressed to Grand duke Paul I of Russia is full of theatrical anecdotes about the actors and plays of his time.

La Harpe's main work is his Lycée ou Cours de littérature (1799), which brings in 18 volumes of lessons he had given for twelve years in high school.