Erckmann-Chatrian

Woodburytype of Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian circa 1875

Erckmann-Chatrian Monument in Phalsbourg, Moselle

Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann (1822–1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (1826–1890), nearly all of whose works were jointly written. Erckmann-Chatrian's work have been admired by many other writers, including William Dean Howells, Walter Pater and William James.

History

Both Erckmann and Chatrian were born in the département of Meurthe (now Moselle), in the Lorraine region in the extreme north-east of France. They specialised in military fiction and ghost stories in a rustic mode. Lifelong friends who first met in the spring of 1847, they finally quarreled during the mid-1880s, after which they did not produce any more stories jointly. During 1890 Chatrian died, and Erckmann wrote a few pieces under his own name.

Many of Erckmann-Chatrian's works were translated into English by Adrian Ross.

Tales of supernatural horror by the duo that are famous in English include "The Crab Spider" (tr. 1863), "The Mysterious Sketch" (tr. 1865), "The Wild Huntsman" (tr. 1871) and "The Man-Wolf" (tr. 1876). These stories received praise from the renowned English ghost story writer, M. R. James, as well as H. P. Lovecraft.

Erckmann-Chatrian wrote numerous historical novels, some of which attacked the Second Empire in anti-monarchist terms. Partly as a result of their republicanism, they were praised by Victor Hugo and Émile Zola, and fiercely attacked in the pages of Le Figaro. Gaining popularity from 1859 for their nationalistic, anti-militaristic and anti-German sentiments, they were well-selling authors but had trouble with political censorship throughout their careers. Generally the novels were written by Erckmann, and the plays mostly by Chatrian.

A festival in their honour is held every summer in the town of Erckmann's birth, Phalsbourg (German Pfalzburg), which also contains a military museum exhibiting editions of their works.

Works

First works

Many of these were not published until the 1860s.

• Malédiction; Vin rouge et vin blanc (1849)
• L’Alsace en 1814, play (1850)
• Science et génie, fantasy story (1850)
• Schinderhannes ou les Brigands des Vosges (1852)
• Le Bourgmestre en bouteille (by Erckmann, 1856)
• L’Illustre Docteur Mathéus (1856)
• Contes fantastiques: Le Requiem du corbeau, Rembrandt et L’Œil invisible (1857)
• Gretchen et La Pie (1858)

From 1859

• Les Lunettes de Hans Schnaps (1859)
• Le Rêve du cousin Elof (1859)
• La Montre du doyen (1859)
• Hans Storkus (1859)
• Les Trois âmes (1859)
• Hugues-le-loup (1859) – this notable tale of a werewolf has been translated into English as "The Man-Wolf" (1876)
• Contes de la Montagne; Contes Fantastiques (1860)
• Maître Daniel Rock (1861)
• Le Fou Yégof (1861)
• L’Invasion ou le Fou Yégof (1862)
• Les Contes du bord du Rhin (1862)
• Confidences d’un joueur de clarinette (1862)
• Madame Thérèse (1863)
• La Taverne du jambon de Mayence (1863)
• Confidences d’un joueur de clarinette (1863)
• Les Amoureux de Catherine (1863)
• Histoire d’un conscrit de 1813 (1864)
• L’Ami Fritz (1864)
• Waterloo (sequel to Conscrit de 1813, 1865)
• Histoire d’un homme du peuple (1865)
• La Maison forestière (1866)
• La Guerre (1866)
• Le Blocus (1866)
• Contes et romans populaires (1867)
• Le Juif polonais, play (1867)
• Histoire d’un paysan (1867)

After the Franco-Prussian War

• Histoire du plébiscite racontée par un des 7 500 000 oui, essay (1871)
• Lettre d’un électeur à son député, pamphlet against reactionaries (1871)
• Les Deux Frères (1871)
• Histoire d’un sous-maître (1871)
• Une campagne en Kabylie (1873)
• Les Années de collège de Maître Nablot (1874)
• Le Brigadier Frédéric, histoire d’un Français chassé par les Allemands (1874)
• Maître Gaspard Fix, histoire d’un conservateur (1875)
• L’Education d’un féodal (1875)
• L’Intérêt des paysans, lettre d’un cultivateur aux paysans de France, essay (1876)
• Contes et romans alsaciens (1876)
• Souvenirs d’un ancien chef de chantier à l’isthme de Suez (1876)
• Les Amoureux de Catherine and L’Ami Fritz, plays (adapted by Chatrian, 1877)
• Contes vosgiens (1877)
• Alsace ou les fiancés d’Alsace, play (adapted by Chatrian from Histoire du plébiscite, 1880)
• Le Grand-père Lebigre (1880)
• Les Vieux de la vieille (1880)
• Quelques mots sur l’esprit humain, résumé de la philosophie d’Erckmann, essay (1880)
• Le Banni (sequel to Le Brigadier Frédéric, 1881)
• La Taverne des Trabans, play (adapted from La Taverne du jambon de Mayence, 1881)
• Les Rantzau, play (adapted from Deux Frères, 1882)
• Madame Thérèse, play (adapted by Chatrian, 1882)
• Le Banni (1882)
• Le Fou Chopine, play (adapted from Gretchen, 1883)
• Époques mémorables de l’Histoire de France: avant ’89 (1884)
• Myrtille, play (1885)
• L’Art et les grands idéalistes, essay (1885)
• Pour les enfants, essay (published 1888)

English translations

• Madame Thérèse, or, The Volunteers of '92 (1869)
• The Blockade (1869)
• Waterloo (1869)
• The Conscript (1870)
• The Story of a Peasant (1871)
• A Man of the People (1871)
• The Forest House, and Catherine's Lovers (1871)
• The Invasion of France in 1814 (1871)
• A Miller's Story of the War; or, The Plébiscite (1872)
• The Alsacian Schoolmaster (1872)
• The Illustrious Dr. Mathéus (1872)
• Popular Tales and Romances (1872; contains: "Abraham's Sacrifice", "The Buried Treasure", "The Invisible Eye", "Lex Talionis", "The Child-Stealer" and "Hans Schnap's Spy-Glass")
• The Bells: A Romantic Story (1873)
• Confessions of a Clarionet Player and Other Tales (1874; contains: "Confessions of a Clarionet Player," "The Hostelry of the Mayence Ham" and "Catherine's Suitors")
• The Story of a Campaign in Kabylia, Told by a Chasseur d'Afrique, and Other Tales (1874; contains: "The Story of a Campaign in Kabylia, Told by a Chasseur d'Afrique," "The College-Life of Maître Nablot," "The Secret of Reaction" and "Village Talk about 1814")
• The Man-Wolf and Other Tales (1876; contains: "The Man-Wolf," "Myrtle," "Uncle Christian's Inheritance," "The Bear-Baiting," "The Scapegoat," "A Night in the Woods" and "The Queen of the Bees")
• The Polish Jew and Other Tales (1876; contains: "The Polish Jew," "Aloïus' Dream," "Messire Tempus", "The Invisible Eye," "The Comet," "The Burgomaster in Bottle," "A Lock of Black Hair," "Lex Talionis," "The Inventor," "Hans Schap's Spy-Glass" and "Uncle Bernard's Shell")
• Brigadier Frederick: A Story of an Alsacian Exile (1877)
• Friend Fritz (1877)
• Buried Treasure (1879; contains: "The Buried Treasure," "My Illustrious Friend, Selsam," "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes," "The Child-stealer," "Black and White," "Hans Wieland, the Cabalist," "The Raven's Requiem," "The Song of the Tun," "Citizen Schneider," "Confessions of a Clarionet Player," "The Hostelry of the Mayence Ham," "Catherine's Suitor")
• Strange Stories (1880; contains: "The Mysterious Sketch," "The Dean's Watch," "'Abraham's Offering'", "The Three Souls," "The Invisible Eye" and "The Wonderful Glass")
• The Rantzaus; or Lessons of Love (1882)
• "Grandmother and Her Three Lovers." In: The Leisure Hour Monthly Library, Vol. XXXII (1883)
• "A Forest Betrothal." In: Short Stories: A Magazine of Select Fiction, Vol. XIII (1893; partial translation of "Les Fiancés de Grinderwald")
• The Count of Nideck (1897)
• Brigadier Frederick and The Dean's Watch (1902)
• The Lock and Key Library, Vol. V (1909; contains: "The Owl's Ear," "The Invisible Eye," "The Waters of Death" and "The Man-Wolf")
• Gems of the World's Best Classics (1929; contains: "The Scapegoat")
• Best Tales of Terror (1980; edited by Hugh Lamb)
• The Book of Ghost Stories (1982; contains: "The White and the Black")
• A Malediction (2020)

References

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External links

• Works by Erckmann-Chatrian at JSTOR
• Works by Erckmann-Chatrian at Project Gutenberg
• Erckmann-Chatrian, Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe Siècle
• Erckmann-Chatrian, first Website entirely dedicated to the Lives and Works of Erckmann-Chatrian (in French).
• Erckmann-Chatrian at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database