Lucien Descaves

Lucien Descaves , actually Lucien Alexandre Descaves (born March 18, 1861 in Paris , † September 6, 1949 ibid) was a French journalist and writer.

Live and act

Descaves was the son of the engraver Alphonse-Louis Descaves (1830–1890) and his wife Hélène Louise Château; the police officer and well-known art collector Eugène Descaves († 1934) was his brother. The pianist Lucette Descaves (1906-1993) was his niece.

Early on, Descaves worked as a freelancer for various - politically more left-wing - newspapers and magazines. Descaves became known when he was at Le Figaro on August 18, 1887, together with Paul Bonnetain , Gustave Guiches , Paul Margueritte and J.-H. Rosny published the cinq manifesto .

Descaves married on April 23, 1888 in Paris Céleste Emboucheur (1869-1896) and had two sons with her: the doctor Jean Descaves (1892-1922) and the curator of the Comédie-Française Pierre Descaves (1896-1966).

During the Dreyfus Affair , Descaves was editor of the daily newspaper L'Aurore . His position against the military was also reflected in his editorials during this period. In order to keep the memories of Edmond and Jules Goncourt alive, Descaves founded the Académie Goncourt (AG) together with like-minded people in 1900 , which takes care of the work of the two to this day and awards the Prix ​​Goncourt every year .

As a friend of Joris-Karl Huysmans , Descaves founded the Societé J.-K. in 1907, a few weeks after his death . Huysmans .

After the Second World War Descaves was appointed chairman of the AG and he held this office until the end of his life. Lucien Descaves died on September 6, 1949 in Paris and found his final resting place in the Cimetière de la Villette ( 19th arrondissement ).

Works (selection)

Autobiography

• Souvenirs d'un ours . Édition de Paris, Paris 1946.

Biographies

• La vie douloureuse de Marceline Desbordes-Valmore . Éditions d'Art & de Litterature, Paris 1910.

Essays

• Soupes. Essais ( Bibliothèque sociologique ; Vol. 20). Stock, Paris 1898.

Novels

• La teigne . Renaissance du Livre, Paris 1913 (EA Paris 1886)
• La caserne. Misères you saber . Tresse & Stock, Paris 1890.
• Les emmurés . Flammarion, Paris 1925 (EA Paris 1894)
• Philémon. Vieux de la vieille . Ollendorff, Paris 1913.
• La column. Récit du temps de la commune . Juven, Paris 1901.

Plays

• La Pelote . Paris 1888.
• together with Paul Bonnetain: Sous-Offs. Piece en trois actes un prose . Lemerre, Paris 1889
• together with Georges Darien: Les chapons. Pièce en un acte . Martineau, Paris 1966 (EA Paris 1890)
• La cage. Pièce en un acte . Stock, Paris 1905 (EA Paris 1898)
• together with Maurice Donnay: La Clairière. Pièce en quatre actes . L'Illustration, Paris 1900.

Forewords

• Maurice Allain: Histoire générale de la littérature française . Quillet, Paris 1922.
• Laurent Benoit: La Commune de 1871 . Dorbon, Paris 1934.
• Gaston Gille: Jules Vallès 1832–1885. Ses révoltes, sa maitrise, son prestige . Flammarion, Paris 1946.
• Maxime Vuillaume: La semaine sanglante . La Palatine, Geneva 1964.

literature

• Pierre-Jean Dufief (Ed.): Dossier Lucien Descaves (Les cahiers naturalistes; Vol. 84). Grasset, Paris 2010, ISBN 2-912012-17-1 .
• Pierre-Jean Dufief (Ed.): Lucien Descaves. Colloque de Brest 2005 . Editions du Lérot, Tusson 2007, ISBN 978-2-35548-007-2 .
• Gabriele Kardos: Lucien Descaves. The man and the work . Dissertation, University of Prague 1934 (German)
• Émile Moselly: Lucien Descaves. Biography critique . Sansot, Paris 1911.