This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D.W.]
By OCTAVE FEUILLET
With a Preface by MAXIME DU CAMP, of the French Academy
OCTAVE FEUILLET'S works abound with rare qualities, forming a harmoniousensemble; they also exhibit great observation and knowledge of humanity,and through all of them runs an incomparable and distinctive charm. Hewill always be considered the leader of the idealistic school in thenineteenth century. It is now fifteen years since his death, and thejudgment of posterity is that he had a great imagination, linked to greatanalytical power and insight; that his style is neat, pure, and fine, andat the same time brilliant and concise. He unites suppleness with force,he combines grace with vigor.
Octave Feuillet was born at Saint-Lo (Manche), August 11, 1821, hisfather occupying the post of Secretary-General of the Prefecture de laManche. Pupil at the Lycee Louis le Grand, he received many prizes, andwas entered for the law. But he became early attracted to literature,and like many of the writers at that period attached himself to the"romantic school." He collaborated with Alexander Dumas pere and withPaul Bocage. It can not now be ascertained what share Feuillet may havehad in any of the countless tales of the elder Dumas. Under his own namehe published the novels 'Onesta' and 'Alix', in 1846, his first romances.He then commenced writing for the stage. We mention 'Echec et Mat'(Odeon, 1846); 'Palma, ou la Nuit du Vendredi-Saint' (Porte St. Martin,1847); 'La Vieillesse de Richelieu' (Theatre Francais, 1848); 'York'(Palais Royal, 1852). Some of them are written in collaboration withPaul Bocage. They are dramas of the Dumas type, conventional, notwithout cleverness, but making no lasting mark.
Realizing this, Feuillet halted, pondered, abruptly changed front, andbegan to follow in the footsteps of Alfred de Musset. 'La Grise' (1854),'Le Village' (1856), 'Dalila' (1857), 'Le Cheveu Blanc', and other playsobtained great success, partly in the Gymnase, partly in the ComedieFrancaise. In these works Feuillet revealed himself as an analyst offeminine character, as one who had spied out all their secrets, and couldpour balm on all their wounds. 'Le Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre'(Vaudeville, 1858) is probably the best known of all his later dramas;it was, of course, adapted for the stage from his romance, and is wellknown to the American public through Lester Wallack and PierrepontEdwards. 'Tentation' was produced in the year 1860, also well known inthis country under the title 'Led Astray'; then followed 'Montjoye'(1863), etc. The influence of Alfred de Musset is henceforth lessperceptible. Feuillet now became a follower of Dumas fils, especially soin 'La Belle au Bois Dormant' (Vaudeville, 1865); 'Le Cas de Conscience(Theatre Francais, 1867); 'Julie' (Theatre Francais 1869). These metwith success, and are still in the repertoire of the Comedie Francaise.
As a romancer, Feuillet occupies a high place. For thirty years he wasthe representative of a noble and tender genre, and was preeminently thefavorite novelist of the brilliant society of the Second Empire. Womenliterally devoured him, and his feminine public has always remainedfaithful to him. He is the advocate of morality and of the aristocracyof birth and feeling, though under this disguise he involves his heroes