Auguste Luchet

Auguste Luchet (22 April 1806 – 9 March 1872) was a 19th-century French playwright, journalist, novelist and writer.

Biography

The son of a civil servant, Luchet was raised in Dieppe where his parents had moved in 1813. A brilliant student but from a family with no fortune, he was placed aged 13 in an office of the Dieppe court of justice. He then worked by a ship owner and a banker and, in 1823, decided to leave for Paris where he wanted to go into literature. He was then employed by a merchant of the rue Saint-Martin, which completely disgusted him with the trading world, a feeling he expressed later in his autobiographical novel Frère et soeur. He spent some time by a merchant of sheets before getting into journalism.

Unfortunately, he soon found himself homeless and spent two years in misery before finding a stenographer position at the Chamber of Deputies where he met, among others, Alphonse Rabbe, Louis Reybaud and Léon Gozlan who allowed him to enter their political review La Jeune France.

Spotted by Jacques Coste, he became a journalist at Le Temps, then joined the Journal de Paris and took an active part to the July Revolution of 1830, which earned him a five-year exile in Belgium, then in Jersey. A collaborator with Talisman, Le Siècle (1849), the Républicain de Seine-et-Marne (1850) and the magazine La Vigne (1866), his plays were given on the most prestigious Parisian stages of his time including the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique, the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, and the Théâtre Beaumarchais.

In addition to some novels, he also wrote books on vine and wine. Luchet was also the governor of the château de Fontainebleau (1848). His novel Le Nom de famille earned him a two-year prison sentence and a 1000 frs fine His defendant was Jules Favre.

Luchet is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery (49th division). His bronze bust is listed in French patrimony.

Works 1830: Paris, esquisses dédiées au peuple parisien et à M. J.-A. Dulaure 1832: Henri le prétendant, novel, Canel 1834: Le Brigand et le philosophe, drama in 5 actions, with Félix Pyat 1835: Ango, drama in 5 acts, six tableaux, with an epilogue, with Pyat 1835: Un Mariage de cour, crime et silence, Souverain 1836: Thadéus le ressuscité, with Michel Masson, Boulé 1838: Frère et sœur, novel, 2 vols., Souverain 1840: Justes frayeurs d'un habitant de la banlieue à propos des fortifications de Paris 1840: Récit de l'inauguration de la statue de Gutenberg et des fêtes données par la ville de Strasbourg les 24, 25 et 26 juin 1840, Pagnerre 1842: Le Nom de famille, 2 vols., Souverain 1844: Le Passe-partout, 2 vols., Souverain 1847: Le Confessionnal de sœur Marie, Souverain 1847: Souvenirs de Jersey, guide du voyageur français dans cette île 1848: Souvenirs de Fontainebleau, Reullier 1854: Le Cordonnier de Crécy, five-act drama, with Charles Vincent, music by Olivier Métra 1855: Fontainebleau, paysages, légendes, souvenirs, fantaisies, Hachette 1856: La Marchande du Temple, five-act drama 1858: Les mœurs d'aujourd'hui : le tabac, le jeu, le canot, le pourboire, la blague, la pose, le chantage, le loyer, la boutique, l'exil, Coulon-Pineau 1858: La Côte-d'Or à vol d'oiseau, lettres écrites à M. L. Havin, après la récolte de 1857, Michel-Lévy 1859: Le Clos de Vougeot et la Romanée-Conti, Bénard 1861: La Science du vin, lettres écrites à M. L. Havin, après la récolte de 1859, Michel-Lévy Frères 1862: Les mauvais côtés de la vie, souvenirs d'exil, Dentu 1868: L'art industriel à l'Exposition universelle de 1867 : mobilier, vêtement, aliments 1869: Album révolutionnaire, Proux