Félix Davin was a 19th-century

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

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 wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. Félix Davin was born on 24 April 1807 in

Saint-Quentin, Aisne Saint-Quentin (; ; ) is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It has been identified as the ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' of antiquity. It is named after Saint Quentin, Saint Quentin of Amiens, wh ...

where he died on 3 August 1836. He was educated at a boarding school in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, then at the

Collège de Saint-Quentin In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

. He became well known in the town after he entered a competition of the Academy of the city, and won the first prize. While the poem by his childhood friend, the future historian Henri Martin, got an honourable mention. The two friends then wrote ''Tower of the Wolf'', a novel written in the ''tormented style of the period''. After school he moved to Paris, where he worked for ''

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'', ...

'', alongside Léon Gozlan,

Auguste Jal Auguste Jal (12 April 1795, in Lyon – 5 April 1873) was a French author who wrote on maritime archaeology and history. Biography He was educated at the naval school in Brest, France, Brest, and led a company of the cadets in the defense of Pari ...

Jules Janin Jules Gabriel Janin (; 16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic. Life and career Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gr ...

, Alphonse Karr,

Nestor Roqueplan Louis-Victor-Nestor Roqueplan lso sometimes spelled Rocoplan(16 September 1805 – 24 April 1870) was a French writer, journalist, and theatre director. Early life and career Nestor Roqueplan was born near Montréal, Aude, and was th ...

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

, Jules Sandeau. He also contributed to several journals such as the '' Journal des Demoiselles'' and ''The Museum of Families'', and later founded the ''Journal Le Guetteur'' in Saint-Quentin. After getting "a beautiful success of goosebumps" with a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

novel titled ''The Toad'', he published a series of five novels from 1833 which he named "intimate novels", in which made observations on the provincial customs. In 1834 and 1835, he signed for

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

, of which he was a great admirer.Félix Davin, « Introduction aux Études de Mœurs » in Honoré de Balzac, Scènes de la vie privée, Mme Charles-Béchet, Paris, 1835 His last two publications are ''A Natural Daughter'', a historical novel after the manner of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

, and ''Mysteries and Fantasies'', a collection of poems. He caught

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and returned to his home town,

, where he died at the age of 29. A street there now bears his name.

List of Publications

* ''Poems san-quintinoises'' (1828) * "Las Casas", poem in three periods (1830) * ''Wolfthurm'', or the Tour du loup, Tyrolean stories (2 vols., 1830) * ''The Toad'', Spanish novel, 1823 (2 vols., 1832) * ''A Seduction'', novel (1833) * ''The Two Parallel Lines'', (1833) * ''Morals in the North of the France''. That regret women (2 vols., 1834) * ''Morals in the North of the France''. A story about a suicide (2 vols., 1835) * ''Morals in the North of the France''. The House of the Angel, or the evil of the century (2 vols., 1835) * ''A Natural Daughter'', reign of Henri II, 1556-1557 (2 vols., 1836) * ''Mysteries and Fantasies'' (1836)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felix Davin 19th-century French novelists French journalists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers