Barbey D'Aurevilly

Jules Amadee Barbey D'Aurevilly (1808-1889) studied law in Caen in his native Normandy 1829-1833 before going to Paris. He lived a dissipated life, affecting the manners of a dandy and seeking to dull the senses with drugs and alcohol. In 1837 he begins a career as a journalist writing for L'Europe. In time he will become one of France's leading literary reviewers and polemicists. He publishes various books and critical studies but it is the publication of Les Diaboliques in 1874, when he was 66 which makes him famous. It is seized on the orders of of the Public Prosecutor on the grounds of alleged obscenity and blasphemy, but the prominent deputy, Gambetta, intervenes to save Barbey from prosecution.

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