Coppée, François

▪ French author

born Jan. 26, 1842, Paris, Fr.

died May 23, 1908, Paris

      French poet, dramatist, and short-story writer known for his somewhat sentimental treatment of the life of the poor.

      Coppée served as a clerk in the Ministry of War and was successful in 1869 with the play Le Passant. From 1871 to 1885 he was the librarian of the Comédie-Franƈaise, and during that time he published his best-known and most characteristic collection of verse, Les Humbles (1872). In 1884 he was elected to the Académie Franƈaise. In 1898, after a serious illness, he was reconverted to Roman Catholicism; that same year he published La Bonne Souffrance, a novel arising from this experience.

      Coppée's reputation has been diminished because of his involvement in nationalist and racialist politics. His return to religion seemed to intensify his patriotic sentiments. He was active on behalf of the prosecution against the French army officer Alfred Dreyfus (Dreyfus, Alfred), whose trial on a charge of treason divided France. Coppée later helped to found the anti-Semitic Ligue de la Patrie Française (French Fatherland League).

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