Erckmann-Chatrian

Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann (1822-1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (1826-1890), nearly all of whose works were jointly written.

Both Erckmann and Chatrian were born in the "département" of Moselle, in the Lorraine region in the extreme north-east of France. They specialised in military fiction and ghost stories in a rustic mode, applying to the Vosges mountain range and the Alsace-Lorraine region techniques inspired by story-tellers from the Black Forest. Life-long friends who first met in the spring of 1847, they finally quarreled during the mid-1880s, after they did not produce any more stories jointly. During 1890 Chatrian died, and Erckmann wrote a few pieces under his own name.

Tales of supernatural horror by the duo that are famous in English include "The Wild Huntsman" (tr. 1871), "The Man-Wolf" (tr. 1876) and "The Crab Spider." These stories received praise from the renowned English ghost story writer, M. R. James.

Partly as a result of their republicanism, they were praised by Victor Hugo and Émile Zola, and fiercely attacked in the pages of "Le Figaro". Gaining popularity from 1859 for their nationalistic, anti-militaristic and anti-German sentiments, they were well-selling authors but had trouble with political censorship throughout their careers. Generally the novels were written by Erckmann, and the plays mostly by Chatrian.

A festival in their honour is held every summer in the town of Erckmann's birth, Phalsbourg (German Pfalzburg), which also contains a military museum exhibiting editions of their works.

Works

First works

Many of these were not published until the 1860s.
*"Malédiction"; "Vin rouge et vin blanc" (1849)
*"L’Alsace en 1814", play (1850)
*"Science et génie", fantasy story (1850)
*"Schinderhannes ou les Brigands des Vosges" (1852)
*"Le Bourgmestre en bouteille" (by Erckmann, 1856)
*"L’Illustre Docteur Mathéus" (1856)
*"Contes fantastiques: Le Requiem du corbeau, Rembrandt et L’Œil invisible" (1857)
*"Gretchen et La Pie" (1858)

From 1859

*"Les Lunettes de Hans Schnaps" (1859)
*"Le Rêve du cousin Elof" (1859)
*"La Montre du doyen" (1859)
*"Hans Storkus" (1859)
*"Les Trois âmes" (1859)
*"Hugues-le-loup" (1859) - this notable tale of a werewolf has been translated into English as "The Man-Wolf" (1876)
*"Contes de la montagne; Contes fantastiques" (1860)
*"Maître Daniel Rock" (1861)
*"Le Fou Yégof" (1861)
*"L’Invasion ou le Fou Yégof" (1862)
*"Les Contes du bord du Rhin" (1862)
*"Confidences d’un joueur de clarinette" (1862)
*"Madame Thérèse" (1863)
*"La Taverne du jambon de Mayence" (1863)
*"Confidences d’un joueur de clarinette" (1863)
*"Les Amoureux de Catherine" (1863)
*"Histoire d’un conscrit de 1813" (1864)
*"L’Ami Fritz" (1864)
*"Waterloo" (sequel to "Conscrit de 1913", 1865)
*"Histoire d’un homme du peuple" (1865)
*"La Maison forestière" (1866)
*"La Guerre" (1866)
*"Le Blocus" (1866)
*"Contes et romans populaires" (1867)
*"Le Juif polonais", play (1867)
*"Histoire d’un paysan" (1867)

After the Franco-Prussian War

*"Histoire du plébiscite racontée par un des 7 500 000 oui", essay (1871)
*"Lettre d’un électeur à son député", pamphlet against reactionaries (1871)
*"Les Deux Frères" (1871)
*"Histoire d’un sous-maître" (1871)
*"Une campagne en Kabylie" (1873)
*"Les Années de collège de Maître Nablot" (1874)
*"Le Brigadier Frédéric, histoire d’un Français chassé par les Allemands" (1874)
*"Maître Gaspard Fix, histoire d’un conservateur" (1875)
*"L’Education d’un féodal" (1875)
*"L’Intérêt des paysans, lettre d’un cultivateur aux paysans de France", essay (1876)
*"Contes et romans alsaciens" (1876)
*"Souvenirs d’un ancien chef de chantier à l’isthme de Suez" (1876)
*"Les Amoureux de Catherine" and "L’Ami Fritz", plays (adapted by Chatrian, 1877)
*"Contes vosgiens" (1877)
*"Alsace ou les fiancés d’Alsace", play (adapted by Chatrian from "Histoire du plébiscite", 1880)
*"Le Grand-père Lebigre" (1880)
*"Les Vieux de la vieille" (1880)
*"Quelques mots sur l’esprit humain, résumé de la philosophie d’Erckmann", essay (1880)
*"Le Banni" (sequel to "Le Brigadier Frédéric", 1881)
*"La Taverne des Trabans", play (adapted from "La Taverne du jambon de Mayence", 1881)
*"Les Rantzau", play (adapted from "Deux Frères", 1882)
*"Madame Thérèse", play (adapted by Chatrian, 1882)
*"Le Banni" (1882)
*"Le Fou Chopine", play (adapted from "Gretchen", 1883)
*"Époques mémorables de l’Histoire de France: avant ’89" (1884)
*"Myrtille", play (1885)
*"L’Art et les grands idéalistes", essay (1885)
*"Pour les enfants", essay (published 1888)

English translations

*"The Man-Wolf and Other Tales" (1876, rpt 1976)
*"Strange Stories" (1880)
*"Best Tales of Terror" (1980) edited by Hugh Lamb

Bibliography

*Benoît-Guyod, G. "La Vie et l'Œuvre d'Erckmann-Chatrian. Témoignages et documents." Tome 14, Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Paris, 1963.
*Hinzelin, Émile. "Erckmann-Chatrian. Étude biographique et littéraire." J. Ferenczi et fils, Paris, 1922.
*Schoumacker, L. "Erckmann-Chatrian. Étude biographique et critique d'après des documents inédits." Les Belles-Lettres, Paris, 1933.

External links

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