About in 1875.

Caricature of About by André Gill, 1867.

Edmond François Valentin About (14 February 1828 – 16 January 1885), was a French novelist, publicist and journalist. Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German The year 1828 ( MDCCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Events 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate. Year 1885 ( MDCCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends

Life

He was born at Dieuze, in the Moselle département in the Lorraine region of France. Dieuze is a town and commune in the Moselle département, Lorraine région in northeastern France Moselle is a ''département'' in the east of France named after the Moselle River. In the Terminology of Political geography and Historiography a National department (département departamento is an administrative Lorraine (Lothringen is one of the 26 régions of France. It is the only administrative region with two cities of equal importance Metz and Nancy This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. In 1848 he entered the École Normale, taking second place in the annual competition for admission in which Hippolyte Taine came first. Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap École Normale de Musique de ParisThe École normale supérieure (also known as Normale Sup’, Normale, ENS, ENS-Paris, ENS-Ulm or Hippolyte Adolphe Taine ( April 21, 1828 - March 5, 1893) was a French Critic and Historian. Among his college contemporaries, besides Taine, were Francisque Sarcey, Challemel-Lacour and Prevost-Paradol. Francisque Sarcey ( October 8, 1827 &ndash May 16, 1899) was a French Journalist and dramatic Critic. Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour ( May 19, 1827 - October 26, 1896) was a French statesman Lucien Anatole Prevost-Paradol ( August 8, 1829 – July 20, 1870) was a French journalist and essayist Of them all, About was considered the most highly vitalized, exuberant, brilliant and "undisciplined". It is said that one of his schoolmasters told him "You will never be more than a little Voltaire," and About's career did tend toward Voltaire-style witty satire and commentaries on contemporary issues. François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French

At the end of his college career, he joined the French school in Athens, but claimed that he had never intended to follow the professorial career for which the École Normale was a preparation, and in 1853 he returned to France and devoted himself to literature and journalism. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's

Career

He made his name as an entertaining anti-clerical writer. The satirical Le roi des montagnes (The King of the Mountains, 1856) is the best-known of his novels. In Greece, About had noticed that there was a curious understanding between the brigands and police: brigandage was becoming almost a safe and respectable industry. About pushed this idea to invent the story of a brigand chief who converts his business into a registered joint stock company. A joint stock company (JSC is a type of business entity it is a type of Corporation or Partnership.

His book on Greece, La Grèce contemporaine (1855) was an immediate success. In Tolla (1855), About was charged with drawing too freely on an earlier Italian novel, Vittoria Savelli (1841). This aroused prejudice against him, and he was the object of numerous attacks. The Lettres d'un bon jeune homme, written to the Figaro under the signature of "Valentin de Quevilly", provoked more animosities. During the next few years, he wrote novels, stories, a play (which failed), a book-pamphlet on the Roman question, many pamphlets on other subjects of the day, innumerable newspaper articles, some art criticisms, rejoinders to the attacks of his enemies, and popular manuals of political economy, L'A B C du travailleur (1868), Le progrès (1864). His more serious novels include Madelon (1863), L'Infâme (1867), the three that form the trilogy of the Vieille Roche (1866), and Le roman d'un brave homme (1880) — a kind of counterblast to the view of the French workman presented in Zola's Assommoir. Émile François Zola ( (2 April 1840 &ndash 29 September 1902 was an influential French Writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of He is best remembered as a farceur, for the books Le nez d'un notaire (1862); Le roi des montagnes (1856); L'homme à l'oreille cassée (1862); Trente et quarante (1858); Le cas de M. Guérin (1862). Georges Maurice de Guérin du Cayla ( August 4, 1810 - July 19, 1839) was a French Poet.

About's attitude towards the empire was friendly but critical. He greeted the liberal ministry of Émile Ollivier at the beginning of 1870 with delight, and welcomed the Franco-Prussian War. Olivier Émile Ollivier (2 July 1825 20 August 1913 was a French Statesman. The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 But as a result of the war he lost his beloved home in Alsace, which he had purchased in 1858 out of the fruits of his earlier literary successes. Alsace (Alsace alzas Alsatian and Elsass pre-1996 German: Elsaß; Alsatia is one of the 26 Regions of France, located on the eastern With the fall of the empire, he became a republican, and threw himself into battle against conservative reactionaries. Republicanism is the Ideology of governing a nation as a Republic, with an emphasis on Liberty, Rule of law, Popular sovereignty From 1872 to about 1877, his paper, the XIX^e Siècle (19^th Century), became a power in the land. His political career, however, failed to advance further.

On 23 January 1884 he was elected a member of the Académie française, but died before taking his seat. Events 393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor Year 1884 ( MDCCCLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year L'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
• Benjamin Willis Wells, A Century of French Fiction, s. Benjamin Willis Wells Ph D (1856&ndash1923 was an American scholar and editor v. , About

External links

• Works by Edmond About at Project Gutenberg