Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/419

 FRANCE (LANGUAGE AND LITERATUKE) 407 and Angele, by Dumas, Hernani, Buy Bias, Marion Delorme, Lucrece Borgia, and Le roi s 1 amuse, by Hugo, are still remembered; while numberless pieces, successful at the time, have since fallen into complete oblivion. In fact, the only gain resulting from this protracted dispute was the abrogation of the obsolete rules which had so long regulated the French stage. A reactionary movement was attempted when the illustrious actress Rachel appeared with such striking effect in the tragedies of Corneille and Racine. Ponsard and Latour St. Ybars returned to the old form of tragedy ; bat the Lucrece of the former and the Virginie of the latter enjoyed but ephemeral success, while the "School of Good Sense," as the adherents of this movement were styled, reck- ons only a few light comedies by ^Emile Augier. This school had been preceded in the line of tragedy by Casimir Delavigne, who, gradually deviating from the classical model, attempt- ed to reconcile the classic and the romantic systems, in his Marino Faliero, Les enfants d'Edouard and Louis XL Meanwhile Eugene Scribe was day by day increasing his enormous stock of successful comedies, or rather vaude- villes, on a larger or smaller scale. Novels, which, with the exception of De Yigny's Cinq- Mars, had been scarcely noticed during the excitement of dramatic reform, became the -rage as soon as this was on the point of being accomplished. Foremost among the novelists of the present century in point of power and celebrity is the poet and dramatist Victor Hugo, whose Notre Dame de Paris, Les mise- rables, Les travailleurs de la mer, and L'Homme qui rit have achieved a wide renown. George Sand (Mme. Dudevant) acquired reputation by her Indiana (1832), and established her claim to be considered one of the foremost writers of her time by her subsequent performances, Valentine, Lelia, Jacques, Andre, Simon, Mau- prat, Consuelo, Le champi, La mare au dia- ole, La petite Fadette, Lafilleule, L'homme de neige, and by her Histoire de ma me, Alex- andre Dumas, the inexhaustible story-teller, won unequalled popularity by his Trois mous- quetaires, Vingt ans apres, Le mcomte de Bragelonne, Le comte de Monte Cristo, Joseph Balsamo, Le collier de la reine, Ange Pitou, La comtesse de Charny, and other romances, in all filling more than a hundred volumes. Eugene Sue also achieved great popular suc- cess with Les mysteres de Paris, Le Juif er- rant, and Martin V enfant trouve, depicting in glaring colors the miseries of society. Hono- re de Balzac undertook to present, under the title of La comedie humaine, a daguerrotype of every aspect of French society during his time ; this immense work was interrupted by death ; but some parts of it, complete in them- selves, are invaluable for depth of observation and acuteness of delineation : Eugenie Gran- det, Le pere Goriot, La recherche de Vabsolii, Le contrat de mariage, Modeste Mignon, Lespa- rens pauvres, Les scenes de la vie privee, &c. Frederic Soulie, who, although his popularity is not as great, is nearly the equal of those we have just named, evinced uncommon talents in his historical novels of southern France, among which Le mcomte de Beziers specially deserves to be mentioned. Still greater power characterized his pictures from the social world : La lionne, La comtesse de Montrion, Diane et Louise, Le lion amoureux, and Les memoires du diable. Alphonse Karr, in his Sous les tilleuls, Midi a quatorze heures, Genemeve, Clotilde, and numerous short tales, has given unrivalled specimens of good sense, fine feeling, and gen- uine humor. By the originality, delicacy of style, and charm of fancy which Alfred de Musset displayed in his nouvelles, such as Fre- deric et Bernerette, Emmeline, Les deux mai- tresses, Lefils du Titien, and Mimi Pinson, he is entitled to a high rank as a novelist. Such is also the case with Prosper Merimee, whose Chronique du temps du Charles IX., Colomba, Le vas etrusque, and Arsene Guillot are gems of their kind. Prominent among the comic writers was Paul de Kock, whose novels were nearly as numerous as those of Dumas, and who wrote also many vaudevilles. Besides these masters of novel writing we can merely mention their contemporaries, Mme. Charles Reybaud, Mme. Emile de Girardin, Theophile Gautier, Charles de Bernard, Elie Berthet, Pon- son du Terrail, Jules Sandeau, fimile Souvestre, Paul Feval, and Mery. Among the later novel- ists, Henri Murger, Alexandre Dumas fils, Leon Gozlan, Arsene Houssaye, Champfleury, Ernest Feydeau, Gustave Flaubert, ICmile Gaboriau, Octave Feuillet, Hector Malot, Edmond About, Cherbuliez, and the literary partners Erckmann- Chatrian, deserve mention. Jules Verne has written remarkable scientific romances, which have been translated into English and widely read. Of nearly the same class are the fanci- ful scientific works of Guillemin and lys6e Reclus. Poetry is far from being as popular in France as the novel, and poets have been and are still very slightly regarded by the public ; but four of them have such claims to admira- tion as to be dear even to the least poetical minds ; these are Beranger, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, and Alfred de Musset. The first named, who wrote nothing but songs, is at once the most national and the most popular of all, as well as the best known in foreign countries. Although song-makers are numerous in France, there is only one who deserves to be men- tioned after Beranger ; this is Pierre Dupont, who, however, stands far behind his master, Lamartine, whose effusions present a combi- nation of harmony, human feeling, and reli- gious sentiment, is the favorite of minds that incline to sentimentality and reverie. His Meditations, Harmonies, and Eecueillements poetiques, his Jocelyn and Chute d'un ange, are still read and admired. Victor Hugo, though a leader in all departments of French literature, has not been less successful as poet than novelist. His Odes et lallades, Orientales^