About the Author: Charles Paul de Kock
Paul de Kock began life as a banker's clerk. For the most part he resided on the Boulevard St. Martin, and was one of the most inveterate of Parisians.
He began to write for the stage very early, and composed many operatic libretti. His first novel, L'Enfant de ma femme (1811), was published at his own expense. In 1820 he began his long and successful series of novels dealing with Parisian life with Georgette, ou la Nièce du tabellion. His period of greatest and most successful activity was the Restoration and the early days of Louis Philippe.
He was relatively less popular in France itself than abroad, where he was considered as the special painter of life in Paris. Major Pendennis' remark (in the novel "Pendennis" by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray) that he had read nothing of the novel kind for thirty years except Paul de Kock, who certainly made him laugh, is likely to remain one of the most durable of his testimonials, and may be classed with the legendary question of a foreign sovereign to a Frenchman who was paying his respects, Vous venez de Paris et vous devez savoir des nouvelles. Comment se porte Paul de Kock? The 1920 Encyclopedia Americana attributes his greater popularity abroad to his style, which it describes as his worst feature . . . barely presentable, a fault evidently due to deficiency of education. . . . the defects of style disappear in translation.
The disappearance of the grisette and of the cheap dissipation described by Henri Murger practically made Paul de Kock obsolete. But to the student of manners his portraiture of low and middle class life in the first half of the 19th century at Paris still has its value.
Other books by Charles Paul de Kock
Find the best price forThe Works of Charles Paul de Kock: With a General Introduction (Classic Reprint)
Charles Paul de Kock
Paperback, Published in Sep 2015 by Forgotten Books
ISBN10: 1331445809 | ISBN13: 9781331445807
Page count: 326
Excerpt from The Works of Charles Paul De Kock: With a General Introduction
On the Place de la Bourse, nearly opposite the Vaudeville theatre, that at the time of which we write, the year 1867, had not as yet been removed to its new home in the Chaussee-d' Antin, two young men met, looked at each other in surprise, stopped suddenly, and heartily shaking hands exclaimed at one and the same time, -
"Why, Adolphe!"
"Frederic!"
"What a lucky chance!"
"So it is; why, for six months I haven't caught sight of you! Where have you been hiding?"
"My dear fellow, I've been hidden in Russia, and very well hidden from head to foot in furs, to guard me from the intense cold, I can assure you."
"And what were you doing in Russia? You are not an actor, you are not a painter, ah, I had forgotten that you were a doctor! An amateur physician, that is to say, for I believe you have not had much practice as yet, although you have received your degree."
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Compare New Book Prices for The Works of Charles Paul de Kock: With a General Introduction (Classic Reprint)
SEARCHING FOR PRICES...