C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Théodore de Banville (1823–1891)
Banville, Théodore Faullain de (bo
-vél’). A French poet and novelist; born at Moulins, March 14, 1823; died in Paris, March 13, 1891. First known as a poet through two volumes entitled ‘The Caryatides’ (1842) and ‘The Stalactites’ (1846), he established his reputation with the ‘Odes Funambulesques’ (1857), a sort of great lyrical parody, published under the pseudonym “Bracquemond,” which immediately found great favor, and were followed by ‘New Odes Funambulesques’ (1868, afterwards reprinted as ‘Occidentales’); ‘Russian Idyls’ (1872); ‘Thirty-six Merry Ballads’ (1873); etc. His dramatic efforts did not meet with equal success, only ‘Gringoire’ (1866) holding the stage for some time. As a prose-writer he is favorably known by a number of humorous and highly finished tales and sketches, like ‘The Poor Mountebanks’ (1853); ‘The Parisians of Paris’ (1866); ‘Tales for Women’ (1881); ‘The Soul of Paris’ (1890); etc. Of considerable literary interest are ‘My Recollections’ (1882); ‘Marcelle Rabe’ (1891). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).