Fortuné du Boisgobey
Fortuné du Boisgobey
Fortuné du Boisgobey
BornFortuné Hippolyte Auguste Castille
(1821-09-11)11 September 1821
Granville, France
Died(1891-02-26)26 February 1891 (age 69)
Paris, France
OccupationNovelist
GenreCrime fiction, Detective fiction, Historical fiction, Sensation novel
Notable worksThe Convict Colonel, The Chevalier Casse-Cou, The Old Age of Monsieur Lecoq, An Omnibus Mystery,The Severed Hand

Fortuné Hippolyte Auguste Abraham-Dubois (11 September 1821 – 26 February 1891), under the nom de plume Fortuné du Boisgobey, was a French novelist.

Life

Fortuné du Boisgobey was born at Granville (Manche), and graduated from the Lycée Saint-Louis.[1] He served as paymaster to the Army of Africa through several campaigns in Algeria from 1844 to 1848.[2] His parents were wealthy, yet at forty or upwards, he took to writing.[1]

In 1843, using the name Fortuné Abraham-Dubois, he made his literary debut in the Journal d'Avranches with a series entitled Lettres de Sicile recounting a voyage he had taken the year before.[3] His first successful novel, Les Deux comédiens appeared in 1868, under the du Boisgobey pen name in the Petit Journal.[4] The story was popular, and M. Paul Dalloz of the Petit Moniteur signed a contract with the author for seven years at 12,000ƒ a year.[1] His reputation was increased by the publication of Une Affaire mystérieuse and Le Forçat colonel, both published there in 1869.[4] In 1877, Figaro engaged him for a series of novels, which increased the success of that paper.[1] He was prolific, with more than sixty works to his name, and became one of the most popular feuilleton writers.[2] In 1885 and 1886 he was President of the Committee of the Société des gens de lettres.[4] Du Boisgobey died in 1891 after a long illness.

Works

First UK edition of A Railway Tragedy in wraps.

Du Boisgobey was the chief of the followers of Émile Gaboriau, with whom his name is generally associated.[4] He even wrote a sequel, La Vieillesse de M. Lecoq, using Gaboriau's character Monsieur Lecoq in 1877–78.[5] His novels deal with crime, the police, and Parisian life. They had a high circulation, and the greater part of them have been translated into English.

English translations exist for the following works.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Notes 1891.
  2. 1 2 Chisholm 1911.
  3. ↑ Chevrier 1997.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Moon 1891.
  5. ↑ Lai 2004.

References

  • "Notes". The Critic 15 (375): 131. 1891-03-07.
  • Chevrier, Thierry (1997). "Dossier: Fortuné du Boisgobey" (in French). Le Rocambole 1 (1): 23–74. 0765–0507.
  • Moon, George Washington (1891). Men and Women of the Time. London: George Routledge and Sons. pp. 278.
  • Lai, Rick (2004). "THE MONSIEUR LECOQ CHRONOLOGY". "THE MONSIEUR LECOQ CHRONOLOGY". Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Boisgobey, Fortuné du" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 153–154.
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