Louis-Xavier de Ricard
Louis -Xavier de Ricard ( born January 25, 1843 in Fontenay- sous- Bois, Dépt Val- de -Marne, . † July 2, 1911 in Marseille) was a French writer and journalist.
De Ricard was a son of the Marquis Joseph- Barthelemy de Ricard, the personal aide of Jérôme Bonaparte.
Already at age 19 in 1862 could de Ricard, with the support of Auguste Poulet - Malassis with his poem " Les chants de l' aube " successful debut. Encouraged and with a small inheritance could de Ricard in March of the following year founded the journal La revue du PROGES and among his first employees, among others Charles Longuet and Paul Verlaine. This magazine put out after one year her to appear when Bishop Félix Dupanloup accused them of " atheistic activities".
When her owner and chief editor de Ricard was sentenced to eight months in prison. In this process, he was defended by a young lawyer Léon Gambetta, which was the sentence in the appeal trial at three months ( abzuleisten in prison Sainte- Pélague ) reduce.
Colleagues and friends, who were to de Ricard also after serving the sentence, every Friday met with de Ricard's mother and from those meetings grew over time a more political than literary salon. Among the regular visitors François Coppée, Anatole France, Sully Prudhomme, Raoul Rigault, Auguste de Villiers de L' Isle- Adam, Paul Verlaine were among others
In winter 1866/67 de Ricard made together with Catulle Mendès important preliminary Alphonse Lemerre and from this arose the later became famous anthology Le Parnasse contemporain. As 1868 de Ricard's father died, the weekly meetings of this set anticlerical Republicans were moved into the home of Nina de Callias.
De Ricard took part in the Franco-German War of 1870 /71 here and there he fought under the command of Louis -Auguste Blanqui. He then became a member of the Paris Commune. 1873 married de Ricard his childhood friend, the Scottish Lydia Wilson. Together with his wife, who was already known as a poet, he settled near Montpellier (Dept. Hérault). There he befriended among others, to with Frédéric Mistral, which could inspire him for the ideas of Félibrige.
His wife died in 1880 and two years later emigrated de Ricard to South America and settled in Buenos Aires. He later married his second wife Louise Kirchner. 1885 ( according to another reading 1886) de Ricard returned to France. In 1887 he went to Barcelona and 1890/91 he spent a year on the island of Java. After returning from this trip, he settled in Marseilles and died there on July 2, 1911.
Works (selection)
- Histoire du Second Empire mondaine. Librairie Universelle, Paris, 1904.
- Officier de fortune. Aventures de Marie -Armand de Guerry de Mabreuil. Montgredien, Paris 1899.
- Un poète nationally. Auguste Fourès. Laffrin, Paris 1889.