Dictionary.net

A distinguished French novelist; born at St. Lo. Aug. 11, 1821; died at Paris, Dec. 29. 1890. "The Great Old Man" (1845) was his first story; but the "Romance of a Poor Young Man" (1858), which was dramatized, first made him famous. Among his numerous other novels are: "The History of Sibylla" (1862), a romance of mysticism; "Julia de Trecoeur" (1872), dramatized as "The Sphinx"; "A Marriage in High Life" (1875); "Story of a Parisienne"; "La Morte" (1886). He was also a successful playwright: "Montjoye" (1863) mirrored the moral rottenness of the Second Empire. He was elected to the Academy in 1863. Beginning as a young-girls' novelist of the discreetest sort, he ended in much the usual French fashion.