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'', which was published in a newspaper from 1842 to 1843.
[ Francis Amery. "Sue, "Eugène", in Pringle, David. 1998. ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers''. Detroit, MI: St. James Press (pp. 680–681). .]
Early life
Sue was born in Paris, France. He was the son of a distinguished surgeon in
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's army,
Jean-Joseph Sue, and had
Empress Joséphine as his godmother. Sue himself acted as surgeon both in the
1823 French campaign in Spain and at the
Battle of Navarino in 1827. In 1829 his father's death put him in possession of a considerable fortune, and he settled in Paris.
Literary career
Sue's naval experiences supplied much of the material for his first novels, ''Kernock le pirate'' (1830), ''Atar-Gull'' (1831), ''La Salamandre'' (1832), ''La Coucaratcha'' (1832–1834), and others, written at the height of the
Romantic movement of 1830. In the quasi-historical style he wrote ''Jean Cavalier, ou Les Fanatiques des Cevennes'' (1840) and ''Latréaumont'' (1837). His ''Mathilde'' (1841
) contains the first known expression of the popular proverb "''La vengeance se mange très-bien froide''",
translated in 1846 as "''Revenge is very good eaten cold''" by D. G. Osborne, also constituting the first known English usage of the proverb later expressed in English as ''"Revenge is a dish best served cold"''.
He was strongly affected by the
socialist ideas of the day, and these prompted his most famous works, the
anti-Catholic novels: ''
The Mysteries of Paris'' (''Les Mystères de Paris'') (published in ''
Journal des débats'' from 19 June 1842 until 15 October 1843) and
''The Wandering Jew'' (''Le Juif errant''; 1844–1845), which were among the most popular specimens of the
serial novel.
''The Wandering Jew'' is a
Gothic novel
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean ...
depicting the titular character in conflict with the villain, a murderous
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
named Rodin.
These works depicted the intrigues of the nobility and the harsh life of the underclass to a wide public. ''Les Mystères de Paris ''spawned a class of imitations all over the world, the
city mysteries. Sue's books caused controversy because of their strongly violent scenes, and also because of their socialist and anti-clerical subtexts.
He followed up with some singular books: ''Les Sept pêchés capitaux'' (1847–1849) contained stories to illustrate each of the
seven deadly sins; ''Les Mystères du peuple'' (1849–1856),
a long series of historical novels which was suppressed by the censor in 1857; and several others, all on a very large scale, though the number of volumes gives an exaggerated idea of their length. ''Les Mystères du peuple'' is a lengthy series of novels and novellas dealing with French history. ''Les Mystères du peuple'' begins with a novel graphically depicting slavery in the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
(''The Iron Collar'').
Other ''Les Mystères du peuple'' novels dealt with
Early Christianity (''The Silver Cross''), King
Clovis I
Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...
(''The Poniard's Hilt''), the founding of the
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans.
From 1066 until 1204, as a r ...
(''The Iron Arrow-Head''), the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
in Palestine (''The Pilgrim's Shell''), the
Albigensian Crusade (''The Iron Pincers''), the
Jacquerie (''The Iron Trevet''),
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
(''The Executioner's Knife'') and the
French Revolution (''Sword of Honor''). The novels were translated into English (as the "Mysteries of the People") and published in New York by
Daniel De Leon and his son,
Solon.
Some of Sue's books, among them ''The Wandering Jew'' and ''The Mysteries of Paris'', were dramatized by himself, usually in collaboration with others. His period of greatest success and popularity coincided with that of
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright.
His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
, with whom he has been compared.
According to
Umberto Eco, parts of Sue's book ''Les Mystères du peuple'' served as a source for
Maurice Joly in his 1864 work
''Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu'', a book attacking
Napoleon III and his political ambitions. The two are depicted in
Will Eisner's cartoon book ''The Plot'', co-authored with Eco.
[ Eco, Umberto (1994), "Fictional Protocols", Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 135, .]
Political career
After the
French Revolution of 1848, Sue was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the Paris-Seine constituency in April 1850. He was exiled from Paris in consequence of his protest against the
French coup d'état of 1851. This exile stimulated his literary production. Sue died in
Annecy-le-Vieux,
Savoy
Savoy (; ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...
on 3 August 1857 and was buried at the Cimetière de Loverchy (
Annecy
Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...
) in the Non-Catholic's Carré des "Dissidents".
Legacy
* ''Rue Eugène Sue'' in the
18th arrondissement of Paris near the Marcadet-Poissonniers station of the
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...
, not far from
Montmartre and the
Sacré-Cœur.
* ''Calle Eugenio Sue'' in
Polanco.
* Sue is a character in
Umberto Eco's 2010 novel ''
The Prague Cemetery''.
Bibliography
* ''Kernock le pirate'' (1830)
* ''Atar-Gull'' (1831)
* ''La Salamandre'' (2 vols, 1832)
* ''La Coucaratcha'' (4 vols, 1832–1834)
* ''Jean Cavalier, ou Les Fanatiques des Cevennes'' (4 vols, 1840)
* ' (2 vols, 1837)
* ''Mathilde'' (6 vols, 1841)
* ''
The Mysteries of Paris'' (Les Mystères de Paris) (published in ''
Journal des débats'' from 19 June 1842 until 15 October 1843)
* ''
The Wandering Jew'' (Le Juif errant; 10 vols, 1844–1845)
* ''Les Sept pêchés capitaux'' (16 vols, 1847–1849)
* ''Les Mystères du peuple'' (The Mysteries of the People) (1849–1856)
**"The Gold Sickle; or, Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen"
**"The Brass Bell; or, The Chariot of Death"
**"The Iron Collar; or, Faustine and Syomara"
**"The Silver Cross; or, The Carpenter of Nazareth"
**"The Casque’s Lark; or, Victoria, The Mother of the Fields"
**"The Poniard's Hilt; or, Karadeucq and Ronan"
**"The Branding Needle; or, The Monastery of Charolles"
**"The Abbatial Crosier; or, Bonaik and Septimine"
**"The Carlovingian Coins; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne"
**"The Iron Arrow-Head; or, The Maid of the Buckler"
**"The Infant’s Skull; or, The End of the World"
**"The Shell of the Pilgrim; or, Fergan the Quarryman"
**"The Iron Pincers; or, Mylio and Karvel"
**"The Iron Trevet; or, Jocelyn the Champion"
**"The Knife of the Executioner; or, Joan of Arc"
**"The Pocket Bible; or, Christian the Printer"
**"The Blacksmith’s Hammer; or, The Peasant-Code"
**"The Sword of Honour; or, The Foundation of the French Republic"
**"The Galley Slave’s Ring; or, The Family of Lebrenn"
References
*
External links
''Wandering Jew and Wandering Jewess''dramatic screenplay adaptations by Robert Douglas Manning,
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sue, Eugene
1804 births
1857 deaths
19th-century French male writers
19th-century French novelists
Critics of the Catholic Church
French fantasy writers
French historical novelists
French male novelists
French propagandists
French socialists
Writers from Paris
Writers of Gothic fiction
Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity
Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages
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