Charles Oscar Dugue

Background

Charles Oscar Dugue was born on May 1, 1821, in New Orleans of French ancestry, the son of Francois Dugue, a wealthy planter, and Jeanne Marie (Pligne).  

Education

Dugue was educated in France, principally at the College St. Louis in Paris, and perfected his English at Transylvania College in Kentucky.

Career

Attracted to the fields of journalism, literature, and law, Dugue wrote for the New Orleans papers, L'Abeille, La Lorgnette, Le Propagateur catholique, became editor in chief of L'Orleanais, and served for some time as judge of the district court for the parishes of St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Plaquemines.  

During the years 1847-1852, which marked the height of his literary powers, he published: Philosophie morale (1847), a volume of miscellany; Essais poetiques (1847), a collection of verse; Mila, ou La Mort de Lasalle (1852), a romantic drama whose chief figure is La Salle; and Le Cygne ou Mingo (1852), a drama in which Tecumseh plays a part.  

Turning to teaching, he became an assistant superintendent of schools in New Orleans and later president of Jefferson College in St. James Parish. When the doors of the college were closed on account of the Civil War, Dugue was broken in health. He met disaster with fortitude, however; worked on a poem to be entitled "Homo, " which he believed was to be his masterpiece, and taught in the New Orleans Normal School.  In quest of a publisher and in the vain hope of regaining his lost health he went to Paris, where he died.

In the year of his death, 1872, his last work, Homo, was published in Paris by his brother.  It is a didactic poem in the form of a dialogue wherein God and Man discourse on the fatality of destiny and the freedom of the will.  The book presents philosophical ideas that seek to obtain harmony and conciliation by persuasion.  

Dugue is chiefly interesting because of his poetry. He himself believed in the sacredness of his mission and his youthful efforts attracted the attention of Cheteaubriand.  In his verses written under the influence of both Musset and Vigny at times he reached lyrical heights, especially when melancholy turned his thoughts to his native land.  His poetical powers were not sustained, however; he preached the utility of the poet as a benefactor of society, and in later years his poetry assumed a didactic tone which deprived it of spontaneity and lyrical qualities.  As a dramatist he was a follower of the so-called "Ecole de bon sens" whose chief exponent was Ponsard.

Achievements

• Charles Dugue is best remembered for his poetry, mostly dedicated to Louisiana. Essais poetiques is his most popoular collection of poems.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Essais Poétiques... (French Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Homo, poëme philosphique (French Edition)

Connections

Dugue was married to Elodie Augustine de Livaudais.

Father:

Francois Dugue

Mother:

Jeanne Marie (Pligne) Dugue

Spouse:

Elodie Augustine (de Livaudais) Dugue

References

• The living writers of the South
• The Cyclopedia of American literature, by Evart A. Duyckinck and George L. Duyckinck: A review
• Creole Families of New Orleans (Classic Reprint)