Jean Richepin - Reference

Poet, playwright, and novelist, born in Médéa, N Algeria. He gave up medical training to study literature at the Ecole Normale, and later served in the Franco-Prussian War. The deep realism of his first book of poems Chanson des gueux (1876, Song of the Poor), earned him a spell in prison for its coarse language (‘outrage aux bonnes moeurs’). Other works include Les Caresses (1877, Caresses), Les Blasphèmes (1884, Blasphemies), and La Mer (1886, The Sea), which recalls his time as a sailor and docker. A prolific novelist, he was interested in psychological anomalies, as in Les Etapes d'un réfractaire (1872) and La Glu (1881), which he adapted for the theatre. His successful plays include Nana Sahib (1883) with Sarah Bernhardt, the comedy Le Flibustier (1888), Par le Glaive (1894), and Le Chemineau (1897). He was elected to the Académie Français in 1908, later becoming a director. His son, Jacques, was also a playwright, and Tiarko, his brother, composed songs and music for the stage, including the famous ‘Petite Marchande d'Allumettes’.

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Jean Richepin (February 4, 1849 - December 12, 1926), French poet, novelist and dramatist, the son of an army doctor, was born at Medea (Algeria).

The same quality characterized his succeeding volumes of verse: Les Caresses (1877), Les Blasphèmes (1884), La Mer (1886), Mes paradis (1894), La Bombarde (1899). His novels have developed in style from the morbidity and brutality of Les morts bizarres (1876), La Glu (1881) and Le Pavé (1883) to the more thoughtful psychology of Madame André (1878), Sophie Monnier (1884), Cisarine (1888), L'Aîné (1893), Grandes amoureuses (1896) and La Gibasse (1899), and the more simple portrayal of life in Miarka (1883), Les Braves Gens (1886), Truandailles (1890), La Miseloque (1892) and Flamboche (1895). the basis for an opera of the same name by César Cui) Par le glaive (1892) Vers la joie (1894) Le Chemineau (1897) Le Chien de garde (1898) Les Truands (1899) Don Quichotte (1905)

Most of these were produced at the Comédie française.

Reference

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Preceded by: André Theuriet

Seat 2 Académie française 1908-1926

Succeeded by: Émile Mâle