C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Charles de Bernard (1804–1850)
Bernard, Charles de (ber-när’) [Properly Bernard du Grail de LaVillette]. A French novelist; born in Besançon, Feb. 25, 1804; died at Neuilly, March 6, 1850. He was a disciple of Balzac, whom he resembles in his power of realistic description and psychological analysis; but he possesses a purer and more nervous style, and above all is content with a less minute elaboration of story and characters. His first piece, ‘The Gerfalcon,’ made a hit with its clever description of the literary cliques. Everywhere he evinces clear insight into the foibles of society. Of his novels, the following may be named as only second in rank to his masterpiece ‘The Gerfalcon’; ‘A Magistrate’s Adventure’; ‘The Gordian Knot’; ‘Wings of Icarus’; ‘The Lion’s Skin’; ‘The Country Gentleman.’