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ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN is the joint name of two French writers whose collaboration made their work that of, so to speak, one personality; the former writing chiefly and the latter editing and adapting for the stage. Emile Erckmann was born on the 20th of May, 1822, at Phalsbourg, and Louis Gratian Alexandre Chatrian on the 18th of December, 1826, at Soldatenthal, Lorraine. They began their work together in 1847 and continued doing so until 1889. Among their first publications are "Science et Genie," " Schinderhannes," and many short stories. The series of novels to which Erckmann-Chatrian owe in great part their reputation includes "Le Fou Yegof," "Madame Therese," "Histoire d'un Consult de 1813," "L'Ami Fritz," "Histoire d'un Homme du Peuple," and many others. Their dramatic compositions and adaptations are "Georges, ou le Chasseur des Ruines," "L'Alsace en 1814." Their stories, dealing with the realities of the times, are distinguished by simplicity and a genuine descriptive power, particularly in battle scenes and those of Alsatian peasant life. They are full of a most democratic spirit and patriotism, which developed, after 1870, into a hatred of Germany and the Prussians. The authors attacked militarism by depicting all the horrors of war in the plainest terms. After Chatrian's death Erckmann contributed to "Le Temps" two publications, "Kaleb et Khora" and "La Premiere Campagne du Grand-Pere Jacques," the latter being the first of a series of stories dealing with the wars of the Empire. "Waterloo," one of the best liked and most read of the works of the joint authors, was written in 1865. Chatrian died at Villemomble, near Paris, in 1890; Erckmann died at Luneville in 1899. |