Octave Feuillet facts for kids
Octave Feuillet (born July 11, 1821 – died December 29, 1890) was a famous French novelist (someone who writes novels) and dramatist (someone who writes plays). His stories were a mix of two popular writing styles: romanticism (focused on feelings and imagination) and realism (focused on showing life as it truly is).
Feuillet was known for writing clearly and beautifully about life. He was especially good at creating female characters and exploring their thoughts and feelings. His writing style was quiet but clever. His most well-known book is Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre (The Story of a Poor Young Man), published in 1858. This novel has been made into movies many times by directors from Italy, France, and Argentina.
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Octave Feuillet's Early Life
Octave Feuillet was born in Saint-Lô, a town in Manche in Normandy, France. His father, Jacques Feuillet, was a respected lawyer and a high-ranking official in the local government. However, his father was also often sick and very sensitive. Octave's mother passed away when he was a baby.
Octave inherited some of his father's nervous energy, but not as much. He went to a top school in Paris called Lycée Louis-le Grand. He did very well there, which meant he could have gotten a good job in the government's diplomatic service.
Becoming a Writer
In 1840, Octave decided not to follow his father's wish for him to become a diplomat. Instead, he told his father he wanted to be a writer. Because of this, his father stopped supporting him. Octave Feuillet went back to Paris and worked as a journalist to make a living.
He also worked with another writer, Paul Bocage, on plays like Echec et mat and La Vieillesse de Richelieu. Three years later, his father forgave him and started giving him money again. This made life much easier for Octave in Paris, where he wrote and published his first novels.
Life in Saint-Lô
As his father's health got worse, Octave was called back to Saint-Lô to take care of him. Leaving Paris and his writing career there was a big sacrifice, but he went. Life in Saint-Lô was hard because his father wanted to be alone a lot and had a difficult temper.
However, in 1851, Octave married his cousin, Valérie Feuillet, who was also a writer. Even though he felt "exiled" in Saint-Lô, Feuillet wrote some of his best works during this time. His first big success came in 1852 with his novel Bellah and his play La Crise. Both of these were first printed in a famous magazine called Revue des deux mondes, where many of his later novels also appeared. Other popular works he wrote in Saint-Lô include La Petite Comtesse (1857), Dalila (1857), and the very popular Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre (1858).
Octave himself became ill with a nervous condition while in Saint-Lô, much like his father. But his wife and mother-in-law helped him a lot. In 1857, he was able to go back to Paris for a short time to watch rehearsals for a play he had made from his novel Dalila. The next year, he did the same for Un jeune homme pauvre. While he was in Paris, his father passed away.
Return to Paris and Later Years
After his father's death, Feuillet and his family immediately moved to Paris. He became a favorite writer at the court of the Second Empire, which was the government at the time. His plays were even performed for the Empress Eugénie before they were shown to the public. Once, Empress Eugénie herself acted in one of his plays, Les Portraits de la Marquise.
In 1862, he had another great success with his novel Sibylle. But his health started to get worse, especially after his oldest son died. He moved back to the quiet countryside of Normandy, but not to his family's old house, which had been sold. He bought a house called Les Paillers near Saint-Lô. He lived there for fifteen years, surrounded by many rosebushes that he loved.
Honors and Final Days
In 1862, Feuillet was chosen to be a member of the Académie française, a very important French organization that protects the French language. Two years later, he became the librarian of Fontainebleau Palace. This job meant he had to live at the palace for a month or two each year to receive the money that came with the position.
In 1867, he wrote what many consider his best work, Monsieur de Camors. In 1872, he wrote Julia de Trécœur. After selling Les Paillers, he spent his last years moving around because of sadness and other health problems. He passed away in Paris on December 29, 1890, not long after his last book, Honneur d'artiste, was published.
Movies Based on His Works
Many of Octave Feuillet's novels and plays have been made into movies over the years. Here are some of them:
- L'ultimo dei Frontignac, directed by Mario Caserini (Italy, 1911, a short film based on Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Un Roman Parisien, directed by Adrien Caillard (France, 1913, a short film based on the play Un Roman Parisien)
- A Parisian Romance, directed by Frederick A. Thomson (1916, based on the play Un Roman Parisien)
- Honneur d'artiste, directed by Jean Kemm (France, 1917, based on the novel Honneur d'artiste)
- The Lord of Hohenstein, directed by Richard Oswald (Germany, 1917, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Hier et aujourd'hui, directed by Dominique Bernard-Deschamps (France, 1918, based on the play La Belle au bois dormant)
- Júlia, directed by Alfréd Deésy (Hungary, 1918, based on the play Julie)
- Vdova, directed by Theodore Komisarjevsky (Russia, 1918, based on the novel La Veuve)
- Dalila, directed by Guglielmo Braconcini (Italy, 1919, based on the play Dalila)
- The Shadow, directed by Roberto Roberti (Italy, 1920)
- The Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Amleto Palermi (Italy, 1920, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- The Sphinx, directed by Roberto Roberti (Italy, 1920, based on the play Le Sphinx)
- Giulia di Trécoeur, directed by Camillo De Riso (Italy, 1921, based on the novel Julia de Trécœur)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Gaston Ravel (Germany/France, 1927, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- A Parisian Romance, directed by Chester M. Franklin (1932, based on the play Un Roman Parisien)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Abel Gance (France, 1935, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Luis Bayón Herrera (Argentina, 1942, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Guido Brignone (Italy, 1942, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Cesare Canevari (Italy, 1958, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Enrique Cahen Salaberry (Argentina, 1968, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
- Story of a Poor Young Man, directed by Cesare Canevari (Italy, 1974, based on the novel Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre)
See also
In Spanish: Octave Feuillet para niños
