Jean Richepin
A bohemian provocateur of French letters who championed the raw, the vulgar, and the vitality of the streets in his verse.
1849–1926 (age 77)·French poet, novelist and dramatist·Birthday: February 4
Biography
Jean Richepin lived his art as fiercely as he wrote it. A former soldier and sailor, he burst onto the Parisian literary scene in the 1870s as a founding member of the 'Vivants', a group dedicated to artistic excess. His 1876 poetry collection 'La Chanson des gueux' (The Song of the Beggars) celebrated thieves, prostitutes, and outcasts with such unvarnished vigor that it landed him a month in prison for outrage to public morals. This notoriety cemented his reputation. Richepin's work, which spanned poetry, novels, and wildly successful plays like 'Le Chemineau', consistently sought beauty in the rough edges of human experience, rejecting bourgeois polish for a more primal, often brutal, lyricism.
#1 When Jean Was Born
The biggest hits of 1849
Jean's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1849Born
1854Started school
1862Became a teenager
President: Abraham Lincoln
1865Could drive
President: Andrew Johnson
1867Could vote
President: Andrew Johnson
1870Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1879Turned 30
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1889Turned 40
Eiffel Tower opens in Paris
President: Benjamin Harrison
1899Turned 50
President: William McKinley
1909Turned 60
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1919Turned 70
Treaty of Versailles signed; Prohibition ratified
President: Woodrow Wilson
1926Died at 77
Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket
President: Calvin Coolidge"Baby Face" — Jan Garber
Key Achievements
- Published the scandalous and influential poetry collection 'La Chanson des gueux' in 1876, which led to a prison sentence.
- Elected to the Académie Française in 1908, marking his eventual acceptance by the French literary establishment.
- Wrote the successful play 'Le Chemineau' (The Tramp) in 1897, which became a staple of French popular theatre.
Did You Know?
He was briefly a schoolteacher, one of the many odd jobs he held in his youth.
Richepin's son, Tiarko Richepin, became a noted composer and conductor.
He once fought a duel with a critic who gave his play a negative review.
“I have the cult of energy, of will, of life.”
