Background
Born in Ceva on 20 April 1807, Louis Jacques Napoléon Bertrand was the son of Georges and Laure (or Laurine-Marie) Bertrand, née Davico.
journalist playwright writer poet
Born in Ceva on 20 April 1807, Louis Jacques Napoléon Bertrand was the son of Georges and Laure (or Laurine-Marie) Bertrand, née Davico.
He is famous for having introduced prose poetry in French literature, and is considered a forerunner of the Symbolist movement. His masterpiece is the collection of prose poems Gaspard de la Nuit published posthumously in 1842. Three of its poems were adapted to a homonymous piano suite by Maurice Ravel in 1908.
Georges Bertrand was born on 22 July 1768 at Sorcy-Saint-Martin (or Saulieu, according to other sources) into a family of soldiers.
After the birth of Louis, the eldest, in 1807, a second son, Jean Balthazar, was born on 17 July 1808. On 15 March 1812 Georges was appointed as gendarmerie captain in Spoleto, whose mayor was at the time Pierre-Louis Roederer.
There, on 23 December, the poet"s sister Isabella-Caroline (or Elizabeth) was born. While in Dijon Aloysius developed an interest in the Burgundian capital.
His contributions to a local paper led to recognition by Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve.
He lived in Paris for a short time. He returned to Dijon and continued writing for local newspapers. Gaspard was sold in 1836 but not published until 1842 after his death from tuberculosis.
The book was rediscovered by Charles Baudelaire and Stéphane Mallarmé.
lieutenant is now considered a classic of poetic and fantastic literature. He is also considered as a Poète maudit, like Petrus Borel or Alice de Chambrier.
He died in Paris.