Alphonse Daudet, (born May 13, 1840, Nîmes, France—died Dec. 16, 1897, Paris), French short-story writer and novelist. Daudet wrote his first novel at age 14. Unable to finish his schooling after his parents lost all their money, he took a position in a duke’s household. He later joined the army but fled the terrors of the Paris Commune of 1871. His health was long undermined by poverty and by the venereal disease that eventually cost him his life. He is remembered for his humorous, sentimental portrayals of the life and characters of southern France, inspired by his experiences at several social levels. His many works include the story collection Monday Tales (1873), the play L’Arlésienne (1872), the novels The Nabob (1877) and Sappho (1884), and several volumes of memoirs. His son, Léon Daudet (1867–1942), edited with Charles Maurras the reactionary review L’Action Française and was a virulent satirist and polemicist on the subjects of medicine and psychology as well as public affairs.
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poetry Summary
Poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm. (Read Britannica’s biography of this author, Howard Nemerov.) Poetry is a vast subject, as old as history and
short story Summary
Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting, concise
novel Summary
Novel, an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience, usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. Within its broad framework, the genre of the novel has encompassed an