Daudet, Alphonse Marie Léon 1867-1942

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DAUDET, Alphonse Marie Léon 1867-1942

PERSONAL: Born November 16, 1867, in Paris, France; died July 1, 1942, in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France; son of Alphonse Daudet (a French author) and Julia Allard. Politics: Royalist.

CAREER: French politician, editor, journalist, and author. Action Française (political newspaper), cofounder, 1899, and editor, beginning 1908. Served in France's Chamber of Deputies, 1919-24.

WRITINGS:

Contre l'esprit allemand: Mesures d'après-guerre, Bloud & Gay (Paris, France), 1915.

Hors du joug allemand: mesures d'après guerre, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1915.

Fantônes et vivants; souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1880 à 1905, 1. série, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1914, translation by Arthur Kingsland Griggs published as Memoirs of Léon Daudet, Dial (New York, NY), 1925.

Devant la douleur; souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1880 à 1905, 2. série, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1915, translation by Arthur Kingsland Griggs published as Memoirs of Léon Daudet, Dial (New York, NY), 1925.

Entre-deux-guerre; souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1880 à 1905, 3. série, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1915, translation by Arthur Kingsland Griggs published as Memoirs of Léon Daudet, Dial (New York, NY), 1925.

Salons et journeax; souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1880 à 1908, 4 série, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1917, translation by Arthur Kingsland Griggs published as Memoirs of Léon Daudet, Dial (New York, NY), 1925.

La guerre totale, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, 1918.

Au temps de Judas; souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1880 à 1908, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1920, translation by Arthur Kingsland Griggs published as Memoirs of Léon Daudet, Dial (New York, NY), 1925.

L'amour est un songe: roman, E. Flammarion (Paris, France), c. 1920.

Vers le roi; souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1908 à 1914, 6 série, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1921, translation by Arthur Kingsland Griggs published as Memoirs of Léon Daudet, Dial (New York, NY), 1925.

Le stupide XIXe siécle, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale (Paris, France), 1922, translation by Lewis Galantière published as The Stupid XIXth Century, Payson & Clarke (New York, NY), 1928.

Le drame des Jardies (1877-1882): roman contemporain, A. Fayard (Paris, France), c. 1924.

Un jour d'orage, roman contemporain, E. Flammarion (Paris, France), 1925.

Études et milieux littéraires, B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1927.

Les horreurs de la guerre, B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1928.

Flambeaux: Rabelais, Montaigne, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1929.

L'entre-deux-guerres, B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1932.

Député de Paris, 1919-1924, B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1933.

Ariane, roman contemporain, E. Flammarion (Paris, France), 1936.

Cloudy Trophy: The Romance of Victor Hugo, translation by James Whitall, W. Morrow & Company (New York, NY), 1938.

Fièvres de Camargue, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1938.

Les lys sanglants: roman historique, E. Flammarion (Paris, France), 1938.

Du roman à l'histoire, F. Sorlot (Paris, France), 1938.

Clemenceau: A Stormy Life, translation by Elizabeth G. Echlin, W. Hodge (London, England), 1940.

L'heure qui tourne: Ornements gravés sur bois de Herve Baille, Èditions de la Nouvelle France (Paris, France), 1945.

Le voyage de Shakespeare, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1969.

SIDELIGHTS: Alphonse Marie Léon Daudet, a French author, journalist, and politician, is best remembered for his right-wing political beliefs and his many works, which include his notable Études et milieux littéraires and Flambeaux: Rabelais, Montaigne, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire. Daudet, the son of famous French author Alphonse Daudet, appeared in the public eye when he avidly followed a political party called the Royalists. Central to its platform was restoring the monarchy to France. Having been a political journalist for right-wing newspapers since 1894, Daudet was instrumental in the founding of the Royalists' newspaper, Action Française. He began as a reporter in 1899 and became its editor in 1908. For the rest of his life, Daudet contributed to it in some capacity.

Daudet studied medicine as a college student, but due to his political leanings changed to journalism. Although he wrote about politics for most of his life, Daudet's public service was limited to five years in the Chamber of Deputies. Daudet was exiled once to Belgium for his political beliefs. Other notable works include his Le voyage de Shakespeare.

Several works were translated into English, including Cloudy Trophy: The Romance of Victor Hugo and Clemenceau: A Stormy Life. Cloudy Trophy is a somewhat fictionalized rendering of Victor Hugo's life. Having been married to Hugo's granddaughter, Jeanne, from 1891 to 1895, Daudet had inside information about the great French novelist who penned Les Misérables. Daudet's book emphasizes Hugo's troubled love life after age thirty. Hugo had an affair with a woman named Juliette Drouet, and his wife was romanced by an individual named Sainte-Beuve. Daudet claimed that much of his book was based on Hugo's published letters, as well as 334 love letters Hugo's wife wrote to Sainte-Beuve. Critical response in America was mixed. "Daudet has on many occasions expressed his contempt for Hugo, but his book is not vituperative. It is well worth reading," Ernest Boyd wrote in Saturday Review of Literature. C. G. Stillman of Books called the work "a hymn of hate, suave, witty and baudy." Justin O'Brien of the New York Times was less fond. "The translation is just a bit more lush in style than the original," O'Brien wrote. "Neither in French nor in English can this work add anything to the reputation of Alphonse Daudet's prolific son."