Fortuné du Boisgobey

Fortuné Hippolyte Auguste Abraham-Dubois (11 September 1821 – 26 February 1891), under the nom de plume Fortuné du Boisgobey, was a French novelist.

Fortuné du Boisgobey
Fortuné du Boisgobey
Fortuné du Boisgobey
BornFortuné Hippolyte Auguste Castille
(1821-09-11)11 September 1821
Granville, France
Died(1891-02-26)26 February 1891 (age 69)
Paris, France
OccupationNovelist
GenreCrime fiction, Detective fiction, Historical fiction, Sensation novel
Notable worksThe Convict Colonel, The Chevalier Casse-Cou, The Old Age of Monsieur Lecoq, An Omnibus Mystery,The Severed Hand

Life

Fortuné du Boisgobey was born at Granville (Manche), and graduated from the Lycée Saint-Louis.[1] He served as paymaster to the Army of Africa through several campaigns in Algeria from 1844 to 1848.[2] His parents were wealthy, yet at forty or upwards, he took to writing.[1]

In 1843, using the name Fortuné Abraham-Dubois, he made his literary debut in the Journal d'Avranches with a series entitled Lettres de Sicile recounting a voyage he had taken the year before.[3] His first successful novel, Les Deux comédiens appeared in 1868, under the du Boisgobey pen name in the Petit Journal.[4] The story was popular, and M. Paul Dalloz of the Petit Moniteur signed a contract with the author for seven years at 12,000ƒ a year.[1] His reputation was increased by the publication of Une Affaire mystérieuse and Le Forçat colonel, both published there in 1869.[4] In 1877, Figaro engaged him for a series of novels, which increased the success of that paper.[1] He was prolific, with more than sixty works to his name, and became one of the most popular feuilleton writers.[2] In 1885 and 1886 he was President of the Committee of the Société des gens de lettres.[4] Du Boisgobey died in 1891 after a long illness.

Works
First UK edition of A Railway Tragedy in wraps.

Du Boisgobey was the chief of the followers of Émile Gaboriau, with whom his name is generally associated.[4] He even wrote a sequel, La Vieillesse de M. Lecoq, using Gaboriau's character Monsieur Lecoq in 1877-78.[5] His novels deal with crime, the police, and Parisian life. They had a high circulation, and the greater part of them have been translated into English.

English translations exist for the following works.

Notes
  1. Notes 1891.
  2. Chisholm 1911.
  3. Chevrier 1997.
  4. Moon 1891.
  5. Lai 2004.

References
  • "Notes". The Critic 15 (375): 131. 1891-03-07.
  • Chevrier, Thierry (1997). "Dossier: Fortuné du Boisgobey" (in French). Le Rocambole 1 (1): 23-74. 0765-0507.
  • Moon, George Washington (1891). Men and Women of the Time. London: George Routledge and Sons. pp. 278.
  • Lai, Rick (2004). "THE MONSIEUR LECOQ CHRONOLOGY". "THE MONSIEUR LECOQ CHRONOLOGY". Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Boisgobey, Fortuné du" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 153–154.
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