Eugene de Mirecourt

Eugene de Mirecourt was born in the family of Nicholas Jacot and Maria-Josephine Petit Jean. His ancestors have long been engaged in small business. Father was a baker, grandfather - the owner of the hotel, great-grandfather - the blacksmith. At the request of the mother, a religious education was chosen for his son, and Eugene entered the seminary, where he showed high abilities. However, at the end of the seminary, the burden of the priest did not suit the young Eugene and, instead of the monastery de La Trappe , he moved to Paris and tried himself in the literary field. The first failures forced him to work as a tutor and a school mentor in Chartres . But this profession did not please. In 1838 he married with the daughter of a soldier of the National Guard Taburie. He soon made his debut in several minor Parisian newspapers with news articles under the pseudonym Eugene de Mirecourt .

Then he moves to Lorraine in Nancy and together with Leloup de Charroy (Leloup de Charroy) publishes the magazine "Lorraine" ("La Lorraine"). Upon his return to Paris in 1840, publishes La Famille d'Arthenay; in 1841 - "Le Lieutenant de la Minerve" and soon his novels appear in the most famous Parisian magazines and attract the attention of critics.

While in Paris, he meets the many staff that Dumas used , Alexander (father) to write a series of his novels. He makes repeated attempts to find himself in the staff of Alexander Dumas himself, but he rejects them.

Eugene de Mirecourt decides to challenge the venerable writer and in 1845 publishes the pamphlet Factory of Novels. Trading House Alexander Dumas & Co. ”(“ Fabrique de romans; maison Al. Dumas et C ° ”) ^[2] . This work was not the first to criticize Alexander Dumas. Prior to this - with accusations of imitating Schiller , Goethe and Racine - Granier de Cassagnac and Louis de Lomeni spoke. However, the pamphlet of Eugène de Mirecourt evoked the strongest response from the French literary community, as it was executed in an emphasized sharp, sometimes rude form. Familiar writers warned him against publishing this work, he fiercely argued with them. In 1844, in a letter to the vice president of the French Society of Writers ( Société des gens de lettres ), he compared his confrontation with Dumas, who was then president of this society, as a pygmy fight with a giant , in particular, he wrote:

“I continue to promote my project, despite your wise and cautious objections with which you tried to deal with it. I am aware of all the risks and, nevertheless, I do not retreat before this fight of the pygmy with the giant. ” ^[3]

He introduces the concept of " literary negro " for employees working for Alexandre Dumas. The concept is doubly offensive, given the origin of the famous mestizo writer. He accuses him of buying the manuscript for 250 francs , and then reselling it to his publishers for 10,000. Mirekur recklessly focuses too much on the private life of Alexander Dumas. Balzac spoke of de Mirecourt's “creation” like this: “This is stupid to disgust, although, unfortunately, it is largely true.” Alexander Dumas lodges a complaint against Mirekur and wins a lawsuit sentencing the latter to formally apologize, pay a fine, and fifteen days in prison. In addition, the court revealed unsightly facts from the life of de Mirecourt himself: someone Rochefort, in turn, accused de Mirecourt of publishing a historical novel under his name, bought from him for only 100 francs.

Over the next few years, Mirecourt wrote several novels. In 1847, together with Marc Fournier (Marc Fournier) composed the drama "Madame de Tencin", which was staged in the Rouen theater Théâtre-Français (Rouen) . He also writes historical novels for magazines: in 1849, La Fille de Cromwell and Les Confessions de Marion Delorme; in 1854, “Memoirs of Ninon de Lanclos” (Les Mémoires de Ninon de Lenclos).

The polemic with Alexander Dumas failed for Mirekur to no avail. In 1854, he decided to publish a series of essays - “Galleries of contemporaries” (“Galerie des contemporains”) - 100 small books containing satirical biographies of his contemporaries, celebrities in politics, literature and art. The series was published in 1854-1858. Later, she withstood several editions, the last in 1867-1872. On the one hand, the series was a huge success, on the other hand, the entire literary press took up arms against Eugene de Mirecourt, causing a lot of controversy and legal proceedings against the author by such influential people as Jean-Marie de La Mennais , Georges Sand , Proudhon , Emil de Girardin , Emil Ogier , Louis Veuillot and others.

Shortly before the end of his controversial project in 1857, Mirecourt founded Les Contemporains , a weekly journal containing biographical articles. The magazine - the forerunner of the modern yellow press - gave vent to caustic remarks and provoked lively debates about the literary life of France. Numerous lawsuits followed, which were usually won by ridiculed writers. After a series of courts and fines, Sovremenniki magazine was closed. Despite the successful sale of his work, which brought a lot of money, de Mirecourt never got rich, as numerous court sentences and fines absorbed most of his income.

Eugene de Mericourt becomes an odious figure and forced to leave Paris. During the war of 1870, he served as a junior lieutenant in the National Guard.

At the end of his life, he returns to his destiny of the religious path, rejected by him in his youth. In 1865 he published the Dictionary of Catholic Sciences (Dictionnaire des sciences catholiques), and in 1872 he became a priest and left France, moving to Haiti . In 1877 he returned to the mother country and published under the pseudonym Ed. Armel de Kervant " Voltaire's story" 1789 et son histoire et Voltaire, ses hontes, ses crimes, ses oeuvres et leurs ".

He died on February 13, 1880 in Paris. Other sources state the date and place of death on April 13, 1880 in San Domingo , Haiti ^[4] or, according to some biographers, in Ploërmel Department of Ploërmel ^[5] .

• In 1861, there was a rumor that Mirekur, who had left to travel around Russia at that time, died there. This caused a number of obituaries in the French press, where his work was judged as he deserved.
• One of the daughters of Eugene de Mirecourt successfully performed on the stages of the Théâtre-Lyrique theater under the name of Elena Terval. She was applauded in Brussels , Florence and Paris. She died in 1876.

• Les Contemporains , 100 T. 1854-1858.
• Honoré de Balzac , Librairie des contemporains, Paris, 1869.
• Rothschild (1855) [1]
• Confessions de Marion Delorme (1856)
• Mémoires de Ninon de Lenclos ( 1857 )
• Madame Anaïs Ségalas , P., 1856 Text on the NBF website

• Eugène de Mirecourt (1812-1880): pseudonyme individuel // National Library of France (French)