Paul Féval, Père
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Paul Henri Corentin Féval, ''père'' (29 September 1816 - 8 March 1887) was a French novelist and dramatist. He was the author of popular
swashbuckler A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, and guile, and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, ...
novels such as '' Le Loup blanc'' (1843) and the perennial best-seller '' Le Bossu'' (1857). He also penned the seminal vampire fiction novels ''Le Chevalier Ténèbre'' (1860), ''La Vampire'' (1865) and ''La Ville Vampire'' (1874) and wrote several celebrated novels about his native
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
and
Mont Saint-Michel Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France. The island lies approximately off France's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is i ...
such as ''La Fée des Grèves'' (1850). Féval's greatest claim to fame, however, is as one of the fathers of modern
crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...
. Because of its themes and characters, his novel ''Jean Diable'' (1862) can claim to be the world's first modern novel of
detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...
. His masterpiece was '' Les Habits Noirs'' (1863–1875), a criminal saga comprising eleven novels. After losing his fortune in a financial scandal, Féval became a born-again Christian, stopped writing crime thrillers, and began to write religious novels, leaving the tale of the ''Habits Noirs'' uncompleted.


Life

Paul Henri Corentin Féval was born at the Hôtel de Blossac in
Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
in Brittany on 29 September 1816. A number of his novels deal with the history of his native province. He was educated for the bar and became a full-fledged lawyer in 1836. However, he soon moved to Paris, where he gained a footing by the publication of his novel ''Le Club des phoques'' (1841) in the '' Revue de Paris''. It was soon followed by two more swashbucklers: ''Rollan Pied de Fer'' (1842), ''Les Chevaliers du Firmament'' and ''Le Loup Blanc'' (both 1843). The latter novel features a heroic albino who fights for justice in a
Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...
-like disguise, one of the earliest treatments of a crimefighter with a
secret identity A secret identity is a person's code name, cryptonym, disguise, incognito, Cover (intelligence gathering), cover and/or alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pi ...
. Féval's break came with the ''Les Mystères de Londres'' (1844), a sprawling
feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of , the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle ...
written to cash in on 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'', whi ...
's ''Les Mystères de Paris''. In it, Irishman Fergus O'Breane tries to avenge the wrongs of his countrymen by seeking the annihilation of England. The plot anticipates that of
Alexandre Dumas, père 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 ...
's ''
The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Alexandre Dumas. It was serialised from 1844 to 1846, and published in book form in 1846. It is one of his most popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers'' (184 ...
'' by one year. The novel also features a
Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
-like criminal
secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...
called the ''Gentlemen of the Night'', a theme that will become recurrent in Féval's oeuvre. Féval published the series under the pseudonym ''Sir Francis Trollop''. With ''Les Mystères de Londres'', Féval became the equal of Dumas and Sue in the eyes of his contemporaries. However, he was unhappy about his success as the author of
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 and soon tried to gain literary recognition with social satires such as ''Le Tueur de Tigres'' (1853), but in vain. He returned to popular literature with more swashbucklers such as ''La Louve'' (1855) (a sequel to his earlier ''Le Loup Blanc'') and ''L'Homme de Fer'' (1856). His biggest success in the genre was ''Le Bossu'' (1857) in which a prodigious swordsman, Henri de Lagardère, disguises himself as a hunchback to avenge his friend the Duke de Nevers, murdered by the villainous Prince de Gonzague. It features the famous motto: "If you don't come to Lagardère, Lagardère will come to you." ''Le Bossu'' has been the subject of half-a-dozen feature film adaptations and a number of sequels, written by Féval's son. That same year, with ''Les Compagnons du Silence'', Féval returned to the theme of criminal conspiracies. It was followed by ''Jean Diable'' (1862), arguably the first modern crime thriller. In it,
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
Chief Superintendent Gregory Temple is mystified by the actions of a supremely gifted crime leader who hides behind the identity of John Devil. In 1862, Féval founded the magazine ''Jean Diable'', named after his eponymous novel. One of its editors was Émile Gaboriau, future creator of the police detective Monsieur Lecoq, a hero seemingly unrelated to the villainous Lecoq of the ''Habits Noirs'' first introduced by Féval. Gaboriau's Lecoq later influenced Conan Doyle's creation of
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
. In 1863, Féval embarked on his masterpiece, '' Les Habits Noirs'', a sprawling criminal saga written over a twelve-year period, comprising seven novels. He retroactively incorporated ''Les Mystères de Londres'', ''Les Compagnons du Silence'' (itself a sequel to an earlier work, ''Bel Demonio'' (1850)) and ''Jean Diable'' into the chronology of ''Les Habits Noirs'', creating a veritable human comedy of evil and secret conspiracies. By its methods, themes and characters, ''Les Habits Noirs'' is the precursor of today's conspiracy and organized crime novels. Féval's heroes, from Gregory Temple, the first detective, to Remy d'Arx, the investigative magistrate who pursues the ''Habits Noirs'', are also the first modern heroes of their kind. In 1865, Féval became President of the ''Société des Gens de Lettre'' (Society of Authors), a position he kept until 1868. He was President again from 1874 to 1876. In 1865, Féval also wrote ''La Vampire'', a seminal text featuring the perversely charismatic Countess Addhema, the first and foremost prototype of the female vampire-as-libido-run-wild theme. Some scholars claimed the text was initially penned in 1856, over 40 years before
Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...
's ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
''. Féval returned to the theme of vampirism with ''La Ville Vampire'' (1867) the ultimate literary ancestor of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...
in which the protagonist is
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 ...
writer Ann Radcliffe herself. In it, to save her friends from the dreaded vampire lord Otto Goetzi, Radcliffe and her fearless vampire hunting companions, Merry Bones the Irishman, Grey Jack the faithful old servant, the revenge-driven Doctor Magnus Szegeli, and Polly Bird, one of the vampire's earlier victims, mount an expedition to find the legendary vampire city of Selene. In 1873 and 1875, Féval tried to join 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 ...
but was rejected, because of the popular nature of his works, but also because of his political convictions. In 1875, a few months after finishing ''La Bande Cadet'', the seventh volume in the ''Habits Noirs'' series, Féval lost nearly all his fortune–the staggering sum of 800,000 francs–several million dollars by today's reckoning–in a financial scandal linked to the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. As a result, he became what today would be called a born-again Christian, and stopped writing crime novels, which he then considered sinful. In fact, he reclaimed the rights to his earlier books and tried to rewrite them to better conform to his new principles. He also began writing religious-themed novels such as ''La Première Aventure de Corentin Quimper'' (1876) and ''Pierre Blot'' (1877). In 1882, Paul Féval was again ruined, the victim of an embezzler. He became paralyzed and unable to write. In April 1884, he suffered another blow when he lost his wife. He was taken to the hospice of the Brothers of Saint-Jean de Dieu where he died on 8 March 1887. His son, Paul Féval (1860–1933) also became a prolific writer.


References


Sources


Author and Book info.com


External links

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at Roman-Feuilleton & HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir Matuschenko) {{DEFAULTSORT:Feval, Paul, pere 1816 births 1887 deaths Writers from Rennes 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights French fantasy writers French crime fiction writers French historical novelists French horror writers University of Rennes alumni 19th-century French novelists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers