Pierre Alexis, Viscount of Ponson du Terrail (8 July 1829 – 20 January 1871) was a French writer. He was a prolific novelist, producing in the space of twenty years some seventy-three volumes, and is best remembered today for his creation of the fictional character of Rocambole.

Biography

He was born in Montmaur (

Hautes Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,22 ...

). Ponson du Terrail's early works squarely belonged to the

Gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

genre: his ''La Baronne Trépassée'' (1852) was a murky

Ann Radcliffe Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English novelist and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining respectability for G ...

-like tale of revenge in the macabre surroundings of 18th-century Germany

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is ...

. The novel was translated by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

as ''The Vampire and the Devil's Son'' in 2007. ''La Femme Immortelle'' (1869) was another of Ponson's classic flirtations with the supernatural and the theme of vampires. The novel was also translated by Brian Stableford as ''The Immortal Woman'' in 2013. When Ponson du Terrail embarked in 1857 on writing the first novel of the Rocambole series, ''L'Héritage Mystérieux'' (also known as ''Les Drames de Paris''), for the daily newspaper ''La Patrie'', he merely meant to copy the success of

Eugène Sue Marie-Joseph "Eugène" Sue (; 26 January 18043 August 1857) was a French novelist. He was one of several authors who popularized the genre of the serial novel in France with his very popular and widely imitated ''The Mysteries of Paris'', whic ...

's best-selling ''Les Mystères de Paris''. Rocambole's importance to

mystery fiction Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

and

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the Introduction to the ''Encycloped ...

s cannot be overestimated, as it represents the transition from the old-fashioned Gothic novel to modern heroic fiction. The word ''rocambolesque'' has become common in French to label any kind of fantastic adventures, especially those with multiple new turns in the story. Rocambole became a huge success, providing a constant and considerable source of revenue to Ponson du Terrail, who continued churning out his adventures. In total, he produced nine Rocambole novels. His other notable novels include ''Les Coulisses du monde'' (1853) and ''Le Forgeron de la Cour-Dieu'' (1869). In August 1870, as Ponson du Terrail had embarked on a new Rocambole saga, Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

surrendered to Germany. Ponson fled from Paris to his country estate near

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

after the Germans burned down his castle. He died in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

in 1871, leaving the saga of Rocambole uncompleted and was buried in the

Cimetière de Montmartre The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...

in the

Montmartre Quarter Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

of Paris.

Quotes

Ponson du Terrail wrote in a hurry and rarely checked what he had written, rushing to meet deadlines. He is well known for some eccentric sentences : * "Her hands were as cold as those of a snake" (fr :''Elle avait les mains aussi froides que celles d'un serpent'') * "With one hand, he raised the dagger, and with the other he said.." (''D'une main il leva son poignard, et de l'autre il lui dit..."'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponson Du Terrail, Pierre Alexis 1829 births 1871 deaths People from Hautes-Alpes French crime fiction writers French fantasy writers Writers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Burials at Montmartre Cemetery 19th-century French novelists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers