Paul Alexis

Paul Cézanne, Paul Alexis reading to Zola, (1869-70)

Paul Alexis (16 June 1847 – 28 July 1901) was a French novelist, dramatist, and journalist. He is best remembered today as the friend and biographer of Émile Zola.

Life

Alexis was born at Aix-en-Provence. He attended the Collège Bourbon where he first learned of Zola, who was himself a graduate. At the direction of his parents he studied law at the University of Aix, but he longed for the life of a writer, and finally left Aix-en-Provence for Paris. He arrived in the capital in 1869 where he quickly became acquainted with Zola and his family. He contributed articles to a number of newspapers including L'Avenir national, La Cloche, Le Corsaire, Le Cri du peuple (under the pseudonym Trublot), Gil Blas,, Le Journal, La Réforme, Le Recueil, and Le Voltaire. He wrote novels in the naturalist style as well as several plays, some of which were written in collaboration with Oscar Méténier.

In 1875 he was briefly incarcerated on the mistaken suspicion of being a Communard who as such would have faced the prospect of life in prison, but Zola was able to use his influence to have him released.

Along with J.-K. Huysmans, Henri Céard, Guy de Maupassant, Léon Hennique, and Zola, he formed part of the groupe des Médan which was responsible for publishing Les Soirées de Médan in 1880, a collection of six naturalist stories dealing with the Franco-Prussian War. Alexis' contribution was the story Après la bataille ("After the Battle").

Alexis was also a great admirer of Flaubert and friend to Renoir. Céard called him "Zola's shadow". Cézanne painted a portrait of them together entitled Paul Alexis reading to Zola.

After his wife Marie died of typhoid fever in 1900, he sank into alcoholism and eventually succumbed to an aneurysm, dying at Levallois-Perret. He was survived by two daughters, Paule and Marthe.

Quotes

On Zola:

Works

Novels

Drama

Letters and Memoirs

References

External links