Emile Souvestre

An Attic Philosopher (Dodo Press) Emile Souvestre

Emile Souvestre (1806-1854) was a French novelist. He was educated at the college of Pontivy, with the intention of becoming a civil engineer. However, in 1823 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 Siege de Missolonghi. 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 L'Echelle de Femmes and Riche et Pauvre met with favourable receptions. His best work is undoubtedly to be found in the charming Derniers Bretons (4 vols, 1835-1837), Foyer Breton (1844) and Un Philosophe sous les Toils (1851). He also wrote a number of other works - novels, dramas, essays and miscellanies.