Octave FEUILLET’S works abound with rare
qualities, forming a harmonious ensemble; they also
exhibit great observation and knowledge of humanity,
and through all of them runs an incomparable and distinctive
charm. He will always be considered the leader
of the idealistic school in the nineteenth century.
It is now fifteen years since his death, and the judgment
of posterity is that he had a great imagination, linked
to great analytical power and insight; that his style
is neat, pure, and fine, and at the same time brilliant
and concise. He unites suppleness with force,
he combines grace with vigor.
Octave Feuillet was born at Saint-Lo (Manche), August
11, 1821, his father occupying the post of Secretary-General
of the Prefecture de la Manche. Pupil at the
Lycee Louis le Grand, he received many prizes, and
was entered for the law. But he became early attracted
to literature, and like many of the writers at that
period attached himself to the “romantic school.”
He collaborated with Alexander Dumas pere and with
Paul Bocage. It can not now be ascertained what
share Feuillet may have had in any of the countless
tales of the elder Dumas. Under his own name he
published the novels ‘Onesta’ and ‘Alix’,
in 1846, his first romances. He then commenced
writing for the stage. We mention ‘Echec
et Mat’ (Odeon, 1846); ‘Palma, ou la Nuit
du Vendredi-Saint’ (Porte St. Martin, 1847);
’La Vieillesse de Richelieu’ (Theatre
Francais, 1848); ‘York’ (Palais Royal,
1852). Some of them are written in collaboration
with Paul Bocage. They are dramas of the Dumas
type, conventional, not without cleverness, but making
no lasting mark.
Realizing this, Feuillet halted, pondered, abruptly
changed front, and began to follow in the footsteps
of Alfred de Musset. ‘La Grise’ (1854),
‘Le Village’ (1856), ‘Dalila’
(1857), ‘Le Cheveu Blanc’, and other plays
obtained great success, partly in the Gymnase, partly
in the Comedie Francaise. In these works Feuillet
revealed himself as an analyst of feminine character,
as one who had spied out all their secrets, and could
pour balm on all their wounds. ‘Le Roman
d’un Jeune Homme Pauvre’ (Vaudeville,
1858) is probably the best known of all his later dramas;
it was, of course, adapted for the stage from his
romance, and is well known to the American public
through Lester Wallack and Pierrepont Edwards.
‘Tentation’ was produced in the year 1860,
also well known in this country under the title ‘Led
Astray’; then followed ‘Montjoye’
(1863), etc. The influence of Alfred de
Musset is henceforth less perceptible. Feuillet
now became a follower of Dumas fils, especially so
in ’La Belle au Bois Dormant’ (Vaudeville,
1865); ’Le Cas de Conscience (Theatre Francais,
1867); ‘Julie’ (Theatre Francais 1869).
These met with success, and are still in the repertoire
of the Comedie Francaise.
