Félix Davin was a 19th-century French

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. Félix Davin was born on 24 April 1807 in

Saint-Quentin, Aisne Saint-Quentin (; pcd, Saint-Kintin; nl, label=older Dutch, Sint-Kwintens ) is a city in the Aisne department, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It has been identified as the ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' of antiquity. It is named after Saint Qu ...

where he died on 3 August 1836. He was educated at a boarding school in

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 ...

, then at the Collège de Saint-Quentin. He became well known in the town after he entered a competition of the Academy of the city, and won the first prize. While the poem by his childhood friend, the future historian Henri Martin, got an honourable mention. The two friends then wrote ''Tower of the Wolf'', a novel written in the ''tormented style of the period''. After school he moved to Paris, where he worked for ''

le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'', alongside

Léon Gozlan Léon Gozlan (11 September 1803 – 14 September 1866) was a 19th-century French novelist and playwright. Life When he was still a boy, his father, who had made a large fortune as a ship-broker, met with a series of misfortunes, and Léon, befo ...

Auguste Jal Auguste Jal (12 April 1795, in Lyon – 5 April 1873) was a French author who wrote on maritime archaeology and history. Biography He was educated at the naval school in Brest, and led a company of the cadets in the defense of Paris during the H ...

Jules Janin Jules Gabriel Janin (16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic. Life and career Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gra ...

Alphonse Karr Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (24 November 1808 – 29 September 1890) was a French critic, journalist, and novelist. Life Karr was born in Paris to German pianist and composer Henri Karr (1784–1842), and after being educated at the C ...

Nestor Roqueplan Louis-Victor-Nestor Roqueplan lso sometimes spelled Rocoplan(16 September 1805 – 24 April 1870) was a French writer, journalist, and theatre director. Early life and career Nestor Roqueplan was born near Montréal, Aude, and was the ...

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

Jules Sandeau Léonard Sylvain Julien (Jules) Sandeau (; 19 February 1811 – 24 April 1883) was a French novelist. Early life Sandeau was born at Aubusson (Creuse), and was sent to Paris to study law, but spent much of his time in unruly behaviour with oth ...

. He also contributed to several journals such as the '' Journal des Demoiselles'' and ''The Museum of Families'', and later founded the ''Journal Le Guetteur'' in Saint-Quentin. After getting "a beautiful success of goosebumps" with a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

novel titled ''The Toad'', he published a series of five novels from 1833 which he named "intimate novels", in which made observations on the provincial customs. In 1834 and 1835, he signed for

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

, of which he was a great admirer.Félix Davin, « Introduction aux Études de Mœurs » in Honoré de Balzac, Scènes de la vie privée, Mme Charles-Béchet, Paris, 1835 His last two publications are ''A Natural Daughter'', a historical novel after the manner of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

, and ''Mysteries and Fantasies'', a collection of poems. He caught

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, and returned to his home town,

, where he died at the age of 29. A street there now bears his name.

List of Publications

* ''Poems san-quintinoises'' (1828) * "Las Casas", poem in three periods (1830) * ''Wolfthurm'', or the Tour du loup, Tyrolean stories (2 vols., 1830) * ''The Toad'', Spanish novel, 1823 (2 vols., 1832) * ''A Seduction'', novel (1833) * ''The Two Parallel Lines'', (1833) * ''Morals in the North of the France''. That regret women (2 vols., 1834) * ''Morals in the North of the France''. A story about a suicide (2 vols., 1835) * ''Morals in the North of the France''. The House of the Angel, or the evil of the century (2 vols., 1835) * ''A Natural Daughter'', reign of Henri II, 1556-1557 (2 vols., 1836) * ''Mysteries and Fantasies'' (1836)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felix Davin 19th-century French novelists French journalists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers