Émile Souvestre

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Émile Souvestre, portrait by JH Belloc, around 1850, Musée de Morlaix
Bust of Souvestres by Philippe Grass (1860) on the cimetière du Père-Lachaise , Paris

Émile Souvestre (born April 15, 1806 in Morlaix (Finistère), † July 5, 1854 in Paris ) was a French novelist and stage poet.

Life

Émile Souvestre

Émile Souvestre began studying law in Rennes, but soon discovered his interest in literature. In 1826 he came to Paris for the first time, where his first play Le Siège de Missolonghi was to be performed. Since the censorship demanded cuts, which Souvestre did not accept, it was ultimately not performed. In 1828 his brother died, so that he had to return to Brittany to support his family. There he earned his living writing articles for various newspapers and as a rhetoric teacher in Brest and later in Mulhouse. In 1830 he married Cécile-Marie Ballot Beaupré, who, however, died in 1831. In 1832 he went into his second marriage to Angéline-Anne Papot, with whom he had three daughters, including Marie Souvestre , who later became a feminist and head of boarding schools for girls . In 1836 he settled permanently in Paris with his family, first made himself known through portrayals of Brittany -  Le Finistère en 1836 , La Bretagne pittoresque (1841) - and then produced a large number of novels, including dramas and vaudevilles , which had a rich talent express for observation. In addition, Souvestre devoted himself to the collection and publication of fairy tales.

In his novels, the philosophizing or moralizing (that is, the socialist sharpness emphasizing the contrast between poor and rich) comes to the fore. The following should be emphasized: Riche et pauvre (1836); Les derniers Bretons (1837); Pierre and Jean (1842); Les Réprouvés et les Élus (1845); Le Monde tel qu'il sera (1846, the first French anti-utopia ), Confessions d'un ouvrier (1851); those awarded by the Academy: Un philosophe sous les toits ; Au coin du feu and Sous latonnelle (1851); Le memorial de famille (1854).

His dramatic poems, such as Henri Hamelin , L'oncle Baptiste , La Parisienne , Le Mousse, etc., form the contrast to Scribe's pieces in that they do not depict the wealthy, like these, but predominantly the dispossessed classes as the main representatives of morality. His ingenious Causeries historiques et littéraires (1854, two volumes) should also be mentioned.

A complete edition of Souvestre's works, some of which have been translated into German, appeared in the “Collection Lévy” (60 volumes).

Adaptations

The play Le pasteur, ou L'évangile et le foyer by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois , premiered in 1849, served as the basis for Giuseppe Verdi's opera Stiffelio, which premiered in Trieste in 1850 .

fairy tale

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Hausmann: The training of anti-utopia in France in the 19th century . Heidelberg 2009, p. 211
  2. ^ This fairy tale in: Friedrich von der Leyen, Paul Zaunert (ed.): French fairy tales Volume II - from recent collections; translated by Ernst Tegethoff. Eugen Diederichs-Verlag, Jena 1923
  3. ↑ These above fairy tales in Bretonische Märchen ed. and translated by Ré Soupault . Eugen Diederichs-Verlag, Düsseldorf / Cologne 1959

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personal data
SURNAME Souvestre, Émile
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French novelist and stage poet
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Morlaix (Finistère)
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 1854
Place of death Paris