Jacques Arago

Jacques Étienne Victor Arago ( born March 10, 1790 in Estagel, Pyrenees- Orientales, † November 27, 1854 in Rio de Janeiro) was a French writer.

Biography

Arago was a son of Bonaventure Arago and his wife. His father was the director of the Mint of Perpignan; his brothers were Étienne François and Jean.

As a signatory Arago took part in an expedition led Louis de Freycinet. Between 1817 and 1820 she sailed with the ships " Uranie " and " Physicienne " around the world. After his return to France, Arago settled as a freelance writer in Bordeaux. He wrote poems and novels; but also some pieces (usually vaudeville ) for the theater. From 1829 to 1835 he lived in Toulouse, alongside his literary duties, he also served as editor of several literary magazines.

1835 took over the Arago Directorate of the Municipal Theatre of Rouen. But this office he had only two years later resign for health reasons ( blindness ). In 1849 he traveled in spite of his blindness at the forefront of a group of speculators and adventurers to California to make their fortune in the California gold rush.

On the occasion of the stay in the port of Valparaíso ( Chile) Arago was abandoned by his companions and returned in the spring of 1850 returned to France. His experiences and his disappointments of this adventure he later published under the title Une vie agitée. Despite all Arago undertook soon after a recent trip to Brazil, where he died in November 1854.

Works (selection)

• Promenade autour du monde. Paris 1822 ( 2 vols with Atlas ).
• Souvenir d' un aveugle. Voyage autour du monde. Paris 1884 ( 2 vols ).
• Une vie agitée. Paris 1853 ( 3 vols ).