Alphonse Rabbe (

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the west ...

, 1784 (?) –

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 31 December 1829) was a French writer, historian, critic, and journalist.

Life

Rabbe was a journalist, writing mostly about the arts. He also published a number of works of popularised history. Disfigured by

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

and addicted to

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

in an effort to make his life bearable, Rabbe is today remembered for his ''Album d'un pessimiste'' in which he writes of the pointlessness of existence. It was published posthumously in 1835. He is also thought to have penned a novel, ''La Sœur grise'', but the manuscript has not survived. Despite his almost complete detachment from society, he was friends with some of the most important literary figures of his day including

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where ''Suffix (name)#Generational titles, '' is French language, French for 'father', to distinguish him from ...

, and

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a French people, Franco-Switzerland, Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed repub ...

. He died in 1829 from an overdose of

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...

. Though little known today, he inspired like-minded writers such as

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...

and

Cioran Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...

Works

* introduction to ''Voyage pittoresque en Espagne'' by A.Laborde, 1808 * ''Précis d'histoire de la Russie'', 1812 * ''Résumé de l'histoire d' Espagne'', 1823 * ''Résumé de l'histoire du Portugal'', 1823 * ''Résumé de l'histoire de la Russie'', 1825 * ''Histoire d'Alexandre I empereur de Russie'', 1826 * ''Album d’un pessimiste'' (1835)

References

* France, Peter (Ed.) (1995). ''The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. * Frey, John Andrew (1999). ''A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. * Boura, Olivier (2017): ''Dictionnaire des écrivains marseillais'', Marseille, éditions Gaussen * de Wieclawik, Lucienne (1963): ''Alphonse Rabbe dans la mêlée politique et littéraire de la Restauration'' (thèse présentée à la Sorbonne pour le doctorat ès lettres), Librairie Nizet, Paris * Véron, Louis-Désiré Véron (reprint 1836): ''Revue de Paris'', vol. 32, p. 58
onlin version
* Touraine, Yves (1960): ''Le Suicide ascétique: essai'', Nouvelles Éditions Debresse, 115 pages, p. 76 1780s births 1829 deaths French male writers Drug-related suicides in France {{France-historian-stub