Feval, PAUL-HENRI-CORENTIN, novelist, b. at Rennes, 27 September, 1817; d. in Paris, 8 March, 1887. He belonged to an old family of barristers, and his parents wished him to follow the family traditions. He received his secondary instruction at the lycee of Rennes and studied law at the university of the same city. He was admitted to the bar at the age of nine-teen, but the loss of his first case disgusted him with the practice of law, and he went to Paris, where he secured a position as a bank clerk. His fondness for reading which caused him to neglect his professional duties, led to his dismissal a few months later. He is
next found in the service of an advertising concern, then on the staff of an obscure Parisian paper, and finally as proof-reader in the offices of “Le Nouvelliste”. He had already begun to write. A short story, “Le club des Phoques”, which he published in ” La Revue de Paris“, in 1841, attracted attention and opened to Feval the columns of the most important Parisian newspapers. In 1844, under the pseudonym of Francis Trolopp, he wrote “Les mysteres de Londres”, which had great success and was translated into several languages. From this time on he hardly ever ceased writing, sometimes publishing as many as four novels at a time. Some of them he also tried to adapt for the stage but, with the exception of “Le Bossu” which was played many times, his ventures in that direction were unsuccessful. Feval’s writings had not always been in conformity with the teachings of the Church. In the early seventies he sincerely returned to his early belief, and between 1877 and 1882 published a revised edition of all his books. He also wrote some new works which show the change. His incessant labour and the financial reverses he had suffered told on his constitution; he was stricken with paralysis. The Societe des Gens de Lettres, of which he was the president, had him placed in the home of Les Freres de S. Jean de Dieu, where he died.
Most of Feval’s novels are romantic; in fact he may be considered as the best imitator of the elder Dumas; his fecundity, his imagination, and his power of interesting the reader rival those of his great predecessor; the style, however, too often betrays the haste in which his novels were written. The list of his works is a very long one; the best known besides those already mentioned are: “Etapes d’une conversion” (Paris, 1877); Merveiiles du Mont-Saint-Michel” (Paris, 1879).
LOUANDRE AND BOURQUELOT, Litterature contemporaine (Paris, 1854); DE MIRECOURT, Les contemporains (Paris, 1856); BUET, Medallions et camas (Paris, 1853).
PIERRE MARIQUE.