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Biography of Edmond de and Jules de GoncourtName: Edmond de and Jules de GoncourtBirth Date: N/A Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: France Nationality: French Gender: Male Occupations: novelists, authors Edmond de and Jules de Goncourt The brothers Edmond de (1822-1896) and Jules de (1830-1870) Goncourt collaborated on novels which originated the Naturalist school in France. Their "Journals" provide a fascinating picture of Parisian literary life in the 19th century.Edmond de Goncourt was born at Nancy on May 26, 1822, and his younger brother, Jules, in Paris on Dec. 17, 1830. Their father, a member of a recently ennobled family, who had fought with distinction under Napoleon, died in 1834 and their mother in 1848, leaving the brothers a comfortable private income. Neither married, and the two were virtually never separated until Jules's premature death on June 20, 1870.Initially the Goncourts intended to become painters, but during a trip to Algeria in 1849 they began to make travel notes and decided to make their career in literature. Their early attempts at plays and a novel were unsuccessful, and they turned to art criticism and works of history dealing with the 18th century and Revolutionary age. …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…and colorful account of the life of the brothers and later of Edmond, running from 1851 to 1896, was published only in the late 1950s. Edmond died on July 16, 1896, and by the terms of his will endowed in 1900 the Goncourt Academy, a group of 10 writers who enjoy great prestige in France and who annually award the Goncourt Prize, the most famous French literary award, to the prose work which they consider to be the best to have appeared during the year. Further Reading An edition of the 1851-1870 diaries was published as The Goncourt Journals, 1851-1870, edited by Lewis Galantière (trans. 1937); selections from the full version running from 1851 to 1896 are contained in Pages from the Goncourt Journal, edited by Robert Baldick (trans. 1962). There are two studies in English of the Goncourt brothers: a short book by Robert Baldick, The Goncourts (1960), and a translation from the French, André Billy, The Goncourt Brothers (1960). |