Charles Paul de Kock

Charles Paul de Kock ( born May 21, 1793 in Passy, today the city of Paris; † August 27, 1871 in Romainville, today the city of Les Lilas, Seine- Saint- Denis ) was a French novelist and playwright.

Life

Charles Paul de Kock was a son of the Dutch banker Jean Conrad de Kock and his wife Anne -Marie Perret, a citizen of Basel. During the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, his father, who had come in 1793 in the army of General Charles François Dumouriez, in order to serve the freedom of his old Dutch native, was guillotined on March 24, 1794 and confiscated the family's wealth. The widow married out of economic necessity in 1800 a " Monsieur Gaigneau, [ ... ] office manager at the Tax Directorate in Paris". Gaigneau was addicted to gambling and paid little attention to his stepson, who was taught by a private tutor. The young Paul de Kock developed an extraordinary appetite for reading, read classical works, with great passion but mostly novels. "We are particularly [ ... ] pulled him the novels Pigault - Lebrun, which have probably caused him to write his own first novel, which he wrote as a seventeen year-old. " Before Paul de Kock, however, self- trod literary way, he made on request his mother was a bank clerk and worked from 1808 to 1813 in a Paris bank.

From this time his first literary attempts originate. For his debut " L' enfant de ma femme" he was initially able to gain any publisher. He left it in 1813 Print at its own expense, but the book was neither purchasers nor readers. Then de Kock tried his luck as a playwright and wrote melodramas that had resounding success on the Paris stage. Paul de Kock was famous for his theater work and now the Parisian publisher interested too lively for his novels. The success of his stage works was quickly surpassed by the success of his novels. With its spicy, often somewhat frivolous representations of the manners and vices of Parisian society, he soon became the darling of the French Leihbibliothekenpublikums and remained so throughout his life.

His son Henry de Kock, born April 25, 1821, made ​​itself known through many novels and several plays. He is also regarded as the author of Souvenirs et notes de Napoléon III à intimate Wilhelmshoehe (1871 ).

The Dutch general and politician Hendrik Merkus de Kock (1779-1845) was a half-brother Paul de Kock.

Reception

The complete edition of his works ( Paris. 1844-45 ) comprises 56 volumes; his novels, of which he has been a part also processed into vaudeville, were usually also translated into German.

Works (selection)

  • André le Savoyard.
  • Le Barbier de Paris. In 1833.
  • La bouquetière du château d' eau. In 1855.
  • Le cuckold. In 1832.
  • L' enfant de ma femme. In 1812.
  • La femme, le mari et l' amant. , 1829.
  • La fille aux trois jupons.
  • Georgette.
  • Gustave le mauvais sujet. In 1821.
  • La laitière de Montfermeil. In 1827.
  • Mme Tapin.
  • La maison blanche.
  • La Pucelle de Belleville. In 1834.
  • Sans cravat ou les commissionaires ( 2 vols ).
France Comédie en vaudeville Integrated Authority File
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