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Home  »  library  »  BIOS  »  Théodore de Banville (1823–1891)

C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Théodore de Banville (1823–1891)

Banville, Théodore Faullain de (bo-vél’). A French poet and novelist; born at Moulins, March 14, 1823; died in Paris, March 13, 1891. First known as a poet through two volumes entitled ‘The Caryatides’ (1842) and ‘The Stalactites’ (1846), he established his reputation with the ‘Odes Funambulesques’ (1857), a sort of great lyrical parody, published under the pseudonym “Bracquemond,” which immediately found great favor, and were followed by ‘New Odes Funambulesques’ (1868, afterwards reprinted as ‘Occidentales’); ‘Russian Idyls’ (1872); ‘Thirty-six Merry Ballads’ (1873); etc. His dramatic efforts did not meet with equal success, only ‘Gringoire’ (1866) holding the stage for some time. As a prose-writer he is favorably known by a number of humorous and highly finished tales and sketches, like ‘The Poor Mountebanks’ (1853); ‘The Parisians of Paris’ (1866); ‘Tales for Women’ (1881); ‘The Soul of Paris’ (1890); etc. Of considerable literary interest are ‘My Recollections’ (1882); ‘Marcelle Rabe’ (1891). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).