Bust of Jean Aicard by the sculptor Victor Nicolas

Jean François Victor Aicard (4 February 1848 – 13 May 1921) was a French

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 w ...

dramatist 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 ...

, and

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 ...

Biography

He was born in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

. His father, Jean Aicard, was a journalist of some distinction, and the son began his career in 1867 with ''Les Jeunes Croyances'', followed in 1870 by a one-act play produced at the

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

theatre. His poems include: ''Les Rebellions et les apaisements'' (1871); ''Poèmes de Provence'' (1874), and ''La Chanson de l'enfant'' (1876), both of which were crowned by the Academy; ''Miette et Noré'' (1880), a Provençal idyll; ''Le Livre d'heures de l'amour'' (1887); ''Jésus'' (1896). Of his plays the most successful was ''Le Père Lebonnard'' (1890), which was originally produced at the Théâtre Libre. Among his other works are the novels, ''Le Roi de Camargue'' (1890), ''L'Ame d'un enfant'' (1898) and ''Tata'' (1901), ''Benjamine'' (1906) and ''La Vénus de Milo'' (1874); an account of the discovery of the statue from unpublished documents, He was elected a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

in 1909. He was elected mayor of Solliès-Ville in 1919, had the ruins of the Forbin castle listed as a historic monument and had the Comédie-Française play his play Forbin de Solliès ou le Testament du roi René there. He died in Paris, 13 May 1921.

Selected works

;Poetry * ''Les Rebellions et les apaisements'' (1871) * ''Les Poèmes de Provence'' (1874) * ''La Chanson des enfants'' (1876) * ''Miette et Note'' (1880) * ''Lemartine'' (1883) which received the prize of the

* ''Le Livre d'heures de l'amour'' (1887) * ''Jésus'' (1896) * ''Le témoin'' (1914-1916) ;Novels * ''La Vénus de Milo'' (1874) * ''Le Roi de Camargue'' (1890), translated as ''King of Camargue'' (1901) * ''Notre-Dame-d'Amour'' (1896), online at

* ''L'Âme d'un enfant'' (1898) * ''Tatas'' (1901) * ''Benjamine'' (1906) * ''Maurin des Maures'' (1908) * ''L'illustre Maurin'' (1908) ;Dramatic works for stage * ''Pygmalion'' (1878) * ''Othello ou le More de Venise'' (1881) * ''Le Père Lebonnard'' (1889)

References

;Attribution *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aicard, Jean 1848 births 1921 deaths Writers from Toulon 19th-century French poets 19th-century French novelists 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights Members of the Académie Française French male poets French male novelists 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French male writers