Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert (6 December 1797 – 1 December 1872) was a French writer of
historical fiction,
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
,
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...
,
stage plays, and
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
. From 1855 to 1870, she and
Virginie Ancelot were the most popular novelists of the ''roman populaire'' genre.
She published much of her work as Clémence Robert.
Biography
Mlle Robert was born in
Mâcon
Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as ...
in December 1797. She was a strong student with a penchant for history.
Her first published work was ''Cri de joie d’une Française sur la naissance de SAR Mgr le duc de Bordeaux'' (Mme Ve Porthmann 1820). Her father was a deputy judge in Mâcon. When he died in 1830, the year of the
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...
, she moved to Paris for the society of other women writers, and to reunite with her older brother (esteemed clockmaker Henri Robert).
In her early days in Paris, she worked in a library. In 1845 she retired to the quiet of
Abbaye-aux-Bois, a Catholic convent that also let rooms to women of high social standing; soon, however, she returned to her career.
Her stay there coincided with a major literary
salon hosted by her friends
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who had a notable influence on French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocrati ...
and
Juliette Récamier
Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier (; 3 December 1777 – 11 May 1849), known as Juliette (), was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Paris. As an icon of ...
, in Mlle Récamier's quarters at the abbey. Clémence Robert died in Paris in 1872, five days before her 75th birthday.
While contemporary novelists drifted toward
escapist fiction, her historical novels revisited themes of socialism and ''
républicanisme''. Her views were shaped in part by the work of anti-Catholic socialist
Eugène Sue
Marie-Joseph "Eugène" Sue (; 26 January 18043 August 1857) was a French novelist. He was one of several authors who popularized the genre of the serial novel in France with his very popular and widely imitated ''The Mysteries of Paris'', whic ...
(1804–1857).
With Camille Leynadier, she compiled and edited the
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...
s of
Giuseppe Garibaldi, which they presented as a biography, dramatised in parts. Her most famous short story was "Baron de Trenck", which relates an adventure of the Prussian officer
Friedrich von der Trenck
Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck (16 February 1726 – 25 July 1794) was a Prussian officer, adventurer, and author.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the Trenck family depicts in red the head of a silver bull with golden tongue and golden ...
, and was inspired by his widely published autobiography.
Selected works
* An
historical novel concerning
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquess of Pombal Sebastião is Portuguese for ''Sebastian''.
This name may refer to:
People
* Sebastião (given name)
Places
* Sebastião Barros, a town in the state of Piauí, Brazil
* Sebastião Laranjeiras, a city in the state of Bahia, Brazil
* Sebastião Lea ...
* Another French edition was published in Brussels, in 1844, and a German edition was published in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
. A Spanish translation by "F" appeared in Malaga in 1845.
*
* (Year of publication is approximate.)
* . This is a version of her earlier novel
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
.
*
*
*
See also
* ''
International Short Stories'' (1910)
*
Roman populaire
References
Further reading
*
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert, Antoinette Henriette Clemence
1797 births
1872 deaths
19th-century French women writers
French women novelists
People of the French Revolution
French women dramatists and playwrights
French women short story writers
19th-century French short story writers
19th-century French novelists
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights