- Émile Souvestre
Émile Souvestre (
April 15 ,1806 –July 5 ,1854 ) was a French novelist who was a native ofMorlaix .He was the son of a civil engineer and was educated at the college of Pontivy, with the intention of following his father's career by entering the Polytechnic School. However, his father died in 1823 and he matriculated as a law student at Rennes but soon devoted himself to literature.
He was by turns a bookseller's assistant, a private schoolmaster, a journalist, and master at the grammar schools of Brest and of
Mülhausen . He settled in Paris in 1836 and in 1848 he became professor in a school for the instruction of civil servants.He began his literary career with a drama, played at the Théâtre français in 1828, the " _fr. Siege de Missolonghi". This tragedy was a pronounced failure. In novel writing he did much better than for the stage, deliberately aiming at making the novel an engine of moral instruction. His first two novels " _fr. L'Echelle de Femmes" and " _fr. Riche et Pauvre" met with favourable receptions.
His best work is undoubtedly to be found in the charming " _fr. Derniers Bretons" (4 vols, 1835-1837) and " _fr. Foyer breton" (1844), where the folk-lore and natural features of his native province are worked up into story form, and in "Un Philosophe sous les toils", which received in 1851 a well deserved academic prize. He also wrote a number of other works—novels, dramas, essays and miscellanies.
In 1846, Souvestre published the ambitious " _fr. Le Monde Tel Qu'il Sera" [The World As It Will Be] , a full-blown
dystopia andscience fiction novel which featured some remarkablepredictions . In it, Maurice and Marthe are taken to the year 3000 by a man named "John Progress" on a flying,steam-power ed,time-travel inglocomotive . There, they discover the existence of steam-powered subways,submarines , synthetic materials imitating real wood, marble, etc.,telephone ,air conditioning , giant fruits and vegetables obtained through what we would call todaygenetic engineering , etc. The world is onenation , the capital of which isTahiti . As inAldous Huxley ’s "Brave New World ",eugenics and genetic manipulation are used to manufacture races of men tailored to various tasks.Souvestre died in
Paris on theJuly 5 ,1854 . On his widow was bestowed the "Prix Lambert " designed for the "families of authors who by their integrity, and by the probity of their efforts have well deserved this token from the Republique des Lettres."References
*1911
External links
*gutenberg author| id=Emile+Souvestre | name=Émile Souvestre
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