Edmond About

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmond About ca.1880 Signature of Edmond About.jpg
Abouts grave on the Père Lachaise

Edmond François Valentin About (born February 14, 1828 in Dieuze , † January 16, 1885 in Paris ) was a French writer .

Life

About was a student at the Lycée Charlemagne in Paris and studied at the École normal supérieure . At the age of 23 he attended the French School in Athens and was very interested in archeology during his stay in Greece . In 1853 he returned to France and settled in Paris as a writer.

In 1854 About published a memorandum entitled L'île d'Égine, one of his earliest works . Works such as La Grèce contemporaine (1853), Tolla Feraldi (1855) and others followed shortly afterwards . a. He achieved his breakthrough in 1855 with his art critic Voyage à travers l'exposition des beaux-arts on the occasion of the world exhibition . However, his literary focus tended towards fiction during these years . He was able to delight readers and critics with novellas such as Les mariages de Paris (1856), Paris royale (1857) or the novels Le roi des montagnes (1856) and Germaine (1857).

In 1858 About stayed in Rome for a few weeks . He published a report on it the following year under the title La question romaine . The official literary criticism then referred to it as "the new Voltaire ". Over time, this nickname became About's honorary title. From 1861 About wrote for the feature section of the daily Opinion Nationale . Under the title Lettres d'un bon jeune homme à sa cousine Madeleine , a report appeared regularly once a week in which he addressed political and social problems. These columns were later published collectively in book form by his publisher.

In addition to his short stories and novels About also tried dramatic works, with which he could not record any significant success. About made a long trip to Egypt in 1869 to attend the grand opening of the Suez Canal on March 18 . His vivid description of this can be found in his work Le Fellah , which appeared that same year.

About was one of the writers who had joined the Second Empire . Therefore, he also enjoyed the special favor of Emperor Napoléon III. who often invited him to festivities at his castle in Compiègne . Most likely, at the request of Emperor followed About 1870 outbreak of war the Marshal of France , General Patrice de MacMahon , in its headquarters in Strasbourg as a war correspondent of the Paris newspaper Soir .

The first time after the end of the war About continued to write for the Soir and vehemently attacked the ultramontanes in his articles . As a moderate republican he founded the paper XIX e Siècle together with Francisque Sarcey and was also editor-in-chief of the newspaper. He used to inspire a partisan of Emperor Napoléon III. had been, so vehemently did he fight the new government and its first president Adolphe Thiers after its removal .

One of his last novels was Roman d'un brave homme , in which he opposed naturalism and its representatives, such as Émile Zola et al. a. pronounced. This novel fell through with both audiences and critics because About was assumed to be jealous only of the success of its colleagues. In 1884 About received the greatest honor in his life's work; he was accepted as a member of the Académie française as the successor to Jules Sandeau . In the same year he published his report on the maiden voyage of the Orient Express , in which he had taken part in 1883 as a guest of Georges Nagelmackers . The following year, four weeks before his 57th birthday, he died in Paris on January 16, 1885.

Works (selection)

  • L'île d'Égine . Paris 1854.
  • La Grèce contemporaine . Paris 1853. as an e-file of the 5th edition, Librairie de L. Hachette & Cie, Paris 1863: gallica.bnf.fr (PDF)
  • Tolla Feraldi . Paris 1855.
  • Les mariages de Paris . Paris 1856.
  • Paris royale . Paris 1856.
  • Le roi des montagnes (1856)
  • Germaine (1857)
  • Les échasses de maître Pierre (1858)
  • La question romaine . Brussels 1859.
  • L'homme à l'oreille cassée (1862)
  • Le nez d'un notaie (1862)
  • Le cas de Mr. Guérin (1862)
  • Madelon (1863)
  • Trente et quarante (1865)
  • La vieille roche (1865), 3 vols.
  • L'Infâme (1867)
  • Les mariages de province (1868)
  • Le Fellah (1869).
  • Le progrès (1864)
  • Les questions d'argent (1865)
  • Causeries (1865-1866), 2 vols
  • L'assurance (1866)
  • ABC du travailleur (1868)
  • Alsace 1871–1872 (1872)
  • Roman d'un brave homme (1880)
  • De Pontoise à Stamboul (1884)

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Edmond About  - Sources and full texts (French)
Commons : Edmond About  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ translated into German by Philipp Reuter; Printed in the FAZ on Feb. 15, 2012: "The country has lived in total bankruptcy since its birth"
  2. ^ Digitized by Gutenberg
personal data
SURNAME About, Edmond
ALTERNATIVE NAMES About, Edmond François Valentin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer and poet
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Dieuze
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1885
Place of death Paris