''Émile, Fragmens'' is an 1827
autobiographical novel
An autobiographical novel, also known as an autobiographical fiction, fictional autobiography, or autobiographical fiction novel, is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The ...
by
Émile de Girardin
Émile de Girardin (; 22 June 180227 April 1881) was a French journalist, publisher and politician. He was the most successful and flamboyant French journalist of the era, presenting himself as a promoter of mass education through mass journalism ...
, based on Girardin's early life. A second edition was published in 1842.
The novel emphasizes the unjust social isolation of
illegitimate children, exaggerating some of the details of Giardin's own experience as the bastard of the Count of Girardin.
The titular character Émile is unable to find a place among the aristocracy or among the working class; after a series of rejections, he is placed in a mental hospital, and at his death is buried in a
common grave.
A recurring character in the novel is Mathilde, an object of romance for the protagonist; when Girardin later married
Delphine Gay, she published an elegy from Mathilde's point of view.
The novel was highly praised by
Jules Janin in his newspaper ''
Le Figaro
() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
'', and was described as receiving "a merited success" ("''un succès mérité''"). The positive reception of the novel launched Girardin's social reputation, earning him entry to fashionable literary
salons.
References
External links
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1827 French novels
French autobiographical novels
French-language novels
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