Merville, real name Pierre-François Camus (1781 in

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dépa ...

– 1853 in

Belleville (Seine) Belleville () was a French commune (municipality) in the Seine ''département'', lying immediately east of Paris, France. It was one of four communes entirely annexed by the city of Paris in 1860. Its territory is now shared by the 19th and 20th ...

) was a 19th-century French Algerian settler who initially worked as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, then an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and finally a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Biographie

Pierre-François Camus took the surname of his mother, Villemer, which he transformed into Merville as

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

. It is under this pen name that he began in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

. We owe him some thirty-five theatre plays which he signed alone or in collaboration and which were given on the most important Parisian stages (

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

, Ambigu-Comique, Second Théâtre-Français, Théâtre de Madame, Favart, Odéon, Porte-Saint-Martin, etc.). All of them had very honorable success. Among these, it is worth mentioning ''La Famille Glinet, ou les premiers temps de la ligue'' which was, at that time, the talk of the town because it was suspected that King

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

had closely worked on it. This play was a five-act comedy presented for the first time at the Théâtre Favart by the comedians of the Odéon, 18 July 1818. Merville also wrote three novels: ''Le Vagabond, histoire contemporaine'' in 4 volumes (this novel is an exaggeration of the miseries of the people), ''Le Baron de l'Empire'' in 5 volumes (this novel tells the story of Charette and some peculiarities of the wars in the Vendée and Jacquot's fate), and ''Saphorine, ou l'aventurière du Faubourg Saint-Antoine'' in 2 volumes. The first published work by Merville is dated 1814. It was ''Lequel des deux ? ou la Lettre équivoque, comédie en 1 acte, en prose'' which was the first play to be presented, in Paris, in 1814, on the stage of the Théâtre de l'Odéon. The latest edition of a work by Merville is dated 1881. It is ''En revenant de Pontoise. Les Oubliettes de P.-F. Camus dit Merville, réédition annotée. Recherches sur l'origine du dicton, opinions de divers auteurs, recueillies, commentées et publiées par Henri Le Charpentier''. Pierre-François Camus-Merville lived in Villiers-sur-Tholon (Yonne) where he was city councilor from 1846 to 1848. He was a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. Délibérations du conseil municipal de Villiers-s-Tholon, Archives départementales de l'Yonne.

Works

* ''Les Comptes de tutelle'', comédie-vaudeville in 1 act (with

Bayard Bayard may refer to: People * Bayard (given name) *Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places * Bayard, Delaware, an unincorporated community *Bayard (Jacksonville), Florida, a neighborhood *Bayard, ...

) * ''La Première Affaire'', three-act comedy, in prose, Paris, Odéon, 28 August 1827 * ''Le Savetier de Toulouse'', drama in 4 acts (with

Francis Cornu Francis Cornu (4 October 1794 – 7 March 1848) was a French playwright. Biography After he made excellent studies in Paris, he lost his father and at the young age of 17, had to work for a living. He entered as an employee at the prefecture ...

], music by M. Adrien), Paris, Ambigu-Comique, 20 October 1832 * ''Sophie ou le Mauvais ménage'', drama in 3 acts (with Francis, music by M. Adrien), Paris, Ambigu-Comique, 2 August 1832 * ''Le Septuagénaire, ou les Deux Naissances'', drama in 4 acts (with

Gustave Albitte Gustave Albitte (30 April 1812 – 17 November 1898 ) was a 19th-century French playwright. He was the son of the conventional Jean-Louis Albitte le Jeune and a nephew of Antoine Louis Albitte l'Aîné. base généalogique Roglo Besides the ...

, music by M.

Louis Alexandre Piccinni Louis Alexandre Piccinni (variously Louis Alexandre, Luigi Alessandro or Lodovice Alessandro) (10 September 1779 – 24 April 1850) was a prolific music composer born in Paris of Italian ancestry. Alexandre Piccinni was born in Paris. The gra ...

), Paris, Gaîté, 12 August 1834 * ''Suite du répertoire du Théâtre de Madame. La Maîtresse'' (with H. Leroux et Alexis) * ''Le Vagabond, histoire contemporaine'' * ''Les Quatre Âges'', comedy in verse in 5 acts * ''Le Vagabond, histoire contemporaine'' * ''Le Procureur impérial'' * ''Le Félon'', historical drama in 3 acts (with *** lle Maucs music by M. Amédée), Paris, 2 February 1830 * ''La Grande Duchesse'', lyrical drama in 3 acts (with Mélesville, music by M. Carafa, Paris,

, 16 November 1835 * ''L'Homme poli, ou la Fausse bienveillance'', comedy in 5 acts and in verse, Paris, Second Théâtre-Français, 8 April 1820 * ''La Maîtresse'', comédie-vaudeville in 2 acts (with The Leroux et Alexis), Paris, Théâtre de Madame, 6 May 1829 * ''Paul Briolat'' * ''Le Jeune Prince, ou la Constitution de ***'', comedy in 3 acts, in prose, Paris, Odéon, 7 July 1831 * ''Lequel des deux ? ou la Lettre équivoque'', comedy in 1 act, in prose, Paris, Odéon, 6 September 1814 * ''En revenant de Pontoise. Les Oubliettes de P.-F. Camus dit Merville'', réédition annotée. Recherches sur l'origine du dicton, opinions de divers auteurs, recueillies, commentées et publiées par Henri Le Charpentier * ''La Première Affaire'', comedy in 3 acts * ''Favras, épisode de 1789'', in 3 acts (with T. Sauvage), Lyon, Gaîté, 19 May 1831 * ''À 21 ans, ou l'Agonie de Schönbrünn'', one-act drama (with Francis ornu, Paris, Ambigu-Comique, 19 August 1832 * ''Almanach des spectacles'', Paris, 1822 * ''La Boiteuse'' * ''Le Baron de l'Empire'' * ''Les Comptes de tutelle'', comédie-vaudeville in 1 act (with Bayard), Paris, Théâtre de Madame, 15 June 1826 * ''Les Cent-et-une nouvelles nouvelles des Cent-et-un'', adorned with a hundred-and-one vignettes * ''Contes et nouvelles'' * ''Le Contrariant'', comedy in prose, in 1 act, Paris, Odéon, 28 December 1828 * ''Les Deux Apprentis'' * ''L'Écrivain public'', drama in 3 acts, in prose (with Drouineau), Paris, Porte-Saint-Martin, 10 May 1828 * ''Tom-Rick, ou le Babouin'', play in three acts imitated from English (with

and Alexandre rmand d'Artois, Paris, Porte-Saint-Martin, 16 October 1832 * ''Jean-Bart à Versailles'', historical fact in 1 act, mingled with

couplet A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

s (with Maréchalle), Paris, Gaîté, 1 March 1817 * ''La Famille Glinet, ou les premiers temps de la ligue'', five-act comedy * ''Louis XIII, ou la '', historical drama in 5 acts (with P. Tournemine), J. A. Lelong * ''Le Juif errant'', drame fantastique in 5 acts and 1

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

, with new choirs (with Mallian, music by M. Paris) * ''Les Deux Anglais'', comedy in 3 acts and in prose, Paris, Odéon, 3 July 1817 * ''Saphorine, ou l'Aventurière du faubourg Saint-Antoine'', 2 vol., Paris, Barba 1820.

References

{{Authority control 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights Knights of the Legion of Honour 1780s births People from Pontoise 1853 deaths French people of colonial Algeria