Louis Marie Fontan

Louis Marie Fontan (November 4, 1801 – October 10, 1839), a French man of letters, was born in

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

and died in

Thiais Thiais () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin ''Theodasium'' or ''Theodaxium'', meaning "estate of Theodasius", a Gallo-Roman landowner. The ...

. He began his career as a clerk in a government office, but was dismissed for taking part in a political banquet. At the age of nineteen he went to

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. ...

and began to contribute to the ''Tablettes'' and the ''Album''. He was brought to trial for political articles written for the latter paper, but defended himself so energetically that he secured indefinite postponement of his trial. The offending paper was suppressed for a time, and Fontan produced a collection of political poems, ''Odes et epîtres'', and a number of plays, of which ''Perkins Warbec'' (1828), written in collaboration with MM. Halévy and Drouineau, was the most successful. In 1828 the Album was revived, and in it Fontan published a virulent but witty attack on

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and L ...

, entitled ''Le Mouton enrage'' (June 10, 1829). To escape the inevitable prosecution Fontan fled over the frontier, but, finding no safe asylum, he returned to Paris to give himself up to the authorities, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and a heavy fine. He was liberated by the revolution of 1830, and his ''Jeanne la folle'', performed in the same year, gained a success due perhaps more to sympathy with the author's political principles than to the merits of the piece itself, a somewhat crude and violent picture of Breton history. A drama representing the trial of

Marshal Ney Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, 1st Prince of the Moskva (; 10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one o ...

, which he wrote in collaboration with Charles Dupeuty, ''Le Proces d'un maréchal de France'' (printed 1831), was suppressed on the night of its production. Fontan died in

on 10 October 1839. A sympathetic portrait of Fontan as a prisoner, and an analysis of his principal works, are to be found in

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-Gran ...

's ''Histoire de la littérature dramatique'', vol. i and also in Eugène Briffault's biographical portrait "Fontan" in the collection ''Nouvelles parisiennes'' (1843). ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontan, Louis Marie 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French male writers Writers from Lorient 1801 births 1839 deaths