Émile Souvestre
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Émile Souvestre (15 April 18065 July 1854) was a Breton novelist who was a native of
Morlaix Morlaix (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. History The Battle of Morlaix, part of the Hundred Years' War, was fought near the town on 30 Septembe ...
, Brittany. Initially unsuccessful as a writer of drama, he fared better as a novelist (he wrote a sci-fi novel, ''Le Monde Tel Qu'il Sera'') and as a researcher and writer of Breton folklore. He was posthumously awarded the
Prix Lambert The Prix Lambert () was an award given out jointly in France by the Académie française and the Académie des Beaux-Arts. It was created in 1853 and awarded to "men of letters" (or their widows) who had served the public interest. Laureates *1963 ...
.


Biography


Education

He was the son of a civil engineer and was educated at the college of Pontivy, with the intention of following his father's career by entering the Polytechnic School. However, his father died in 1823 and he matriculated as a law student at Rennes but soon devoted himself to literature. He was by turns a bookseller's assistant and a private schoolmaster in
Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
, a journalist and a grammar school teacher in Brest and a teacher in
Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
. He settled in Paris in 1836. In 1848 he became professor in the school for the instruction of civil servants initiated by Hippolyte Carnot, but which was soon to be cancelled.


Literary career

He began his literary career with a drama, the ', performed at the Théâtre français in 1828. This tragedy was a pronounced failure. In novel writing he did much better than for the stage, deliberately aiming at making the novel an engine of moral instruction. His first two novels ' and ' met with favourable receptions. Souvestre published a series of articles in 1834 on Breton culture, and then an article on Breton poetry. These were combined and published as ' (4 vols, 1835–1837), followed by ' (1844), where the folklore and natural features of his native province are worked up into story form, and in ''Un Philosophe sous les toits'', which received in 1851 an academic prize. He also wrote a number of other works—novels, dramas, essays and miscellanies. In 1846, Souvestre published the ambitiou
'
he World As It Will Be a full-blown
dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...
and science fiction novel which featured some remarkable predictions. In it, a French couple, Maurice and Marthe are taken to the year 3000 by a man named ''John Progress'' on a flying,
steam-power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
ed,
Time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...
ing
locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...
. There, they discover the existence of steam-powered subways,
submarines A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or info ...
, synthetic materials imitating real wood, marble, etc., telephone,
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...
, giant fruits and vegetables obtained through what we would call today
genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...
, etc. The world is one
nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
, the capital of which is
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
. Parenting has vanished, because most children are removed from their parents and taken to places where eugenics, genetic manipulation, and different forms of education give rise to somewhat human grotesques tailored for specific tasks. Corporations have enough power to influence government decisions to ensure good profit margins. The medical community manipulates people to ensure that they are seriously sick when they enter, and conducts medical experiments on animals. This is paid for by cutting costs in the food the patients receive. No sympathy or encouragement is given to the poor or disabled. China has become inactive and listless, going into a steep decline after their socio-economic structure was ruined by opium, and wars and murders occur in Persia for idiotic religious reasons. Russia seems more or less a backwater obscurity, and Germany is a jingoistic nation that permits freedom while undermining it at the same time.


Death and legacy

Souvestre died in Paris on July 5, 1854. His widow was awarded the
Prix Lambert The Prix Lambert () was an award given out jointly in France by the Académie française and the Académie des Beaux-Arts. It was created in 1853 and awarded to "men of letters" (or their widows) who had served the public interest. Laureates *1963 ...
, awarded jointly by the
Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
and the
Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...
, for the moral quality of his work. French sculptor and Souvestre's friend Philippe Grass made his portrait on his tomb at the
Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...
.
Marie Souvestre Marie Souvestre (28 April 1830 – 30 March 1905) was an educator who sought to develop independent minds in young women. She founded a school in France and when she left the school with one of her teachers she founded Allenswood Academy in L ...
, the feminist writer and educator who was a major influence on
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
, was his daughter.


Works

* ''Un Philosophe sous les toits'' * ''Confessions d'un ouvrier'' * ''Au coin du feu'' * ''Scènes de la vie intime'' * ''Chroniques de la mer'' * ''Les Clairières'' * ''Scènes de la Chouannerie'' * ''Dans la Prairie'' * ''Les derniers Paysans'' * ''En quarantaine'' * ''Sur la Pelouse'' * ''Les Soirées de Meudon'' * ''Souvenirs d'un Vieillard, la dernière Étape'' * ''Scènes et Récits des Alpes'' * ''Les Anges du Foyer'' * ''L'Echelle de femmes'' * ''La Goutte d'eau'' * ''Sous les Filets'' * ''Le Foyer breton'' * ''Contes et Nouvelles'' * ''Les derniers Bretons'' * ''Les Réprouvés et les Élus'' * ''Les Péchés de jeunesse'' * ''Riche et Pauvre'' * ''En Famille'' * ''Pierre et Jean'' * ''Deux Misères'' * ''Les Drames parisiens'' * ''Au bord du Lac'' * ''Pendant la Moisson '' * ''Sous les Ombrages'' * ''Le Mat de Cocagne'' * ''Le Mémorial de famille'' * ''Souvenirs d'un Bas-Breton'' * ''L'Homme et l'Argent'' * ''Le Monde tel qu'il sera'' * ''Histoires d'autrefois'' * ''Sots la Tonnelle''


References

*


External links

* * * * (including 28 'from old catalog') {{DEFAULTSORT:Souvestre, Emile 1806 births 1854 deaths People from Morlaix French science fiction writers Collectors of fairy tales Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French novelists 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights French male novelists 19th-century French male writers Writers from Brittany