Daudet, Alphonse |
| WRITER (FRANCE) |
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BORN 13 May 1840, Nîmes, Gard - DIED 16 Dec 1897, Paris: 41 rue de l'Université BIRTH NAME Daudet, Louis-Marie Alphonse GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 26, chemin Molière et La Fontaine, ligne 02 (Malroux: P 25)) |
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Alphonse Daudet was the son of a silk manufacturer. He went to school in Lyon and moved to Alès to become a schoolteacher. But the teaching profession was horrible to him and in 1857 he joined his older brother Ernest, who worked as a journalist in Paris. He started writing poetry and "Les Amoureuses" (1858) was received well. He wrote several plays and soon made himself a name. Morny noticed him and he became his secretary until Morny's death in 1865. In 1867 he married Julia Allard, who wrote several books herself. She was a good intellectual companion to him, but he slept with many other women during the marriage and suffered from syphilis in later years. His novel "Fromont jeune et Risler aîné" (1874) was an enormous success and now he was a man of fame. He wrote many more novels and plays. When critics said he imitated Charles Dickens he denied this, but there were many similarities, although their styles differed. Edmond de Goncourt was a close friend who died in his house. He also befriended Flaubert and Zola. Family • Son: Daudet, Lucien • Wife: Daudet-Allard, Julia (1867-1897) Related persons • visited Bibesco, Anna, Comtesse de Noailles • was painted by Carrière, Eugène • was a friend of Goncourt, Edmond de |
| Images |
 The mausoleum of Alphonse Daudet at Père Lachaise, Paris. Picture by Androom (19 Nov 2006) |
Sources • Pillement, Georges, Paris inconnu, Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1965 |
