Édouard Corbière
Encyclopedia
Jean Antoine René Édouard Corbière (1 April 1793, Brest
- 27 September 1875, Morlaix
) was a French sailor, shipowner, journalist and writer, considered to be the father of the French maritime novel.
, to the east of Castres
, in the Tarn
département). At the time of Édouard's birth his father was an infantry captain in the French Navy - his mother, Jeanne-Renée Dubois, had been born at Morlaix
in 1768. Édouard was the third of four children.
On his father's death in 1802, the young Édouard had no choice but to enter the navy to provide a family income. He became a mousse in 1804, a novice in 1806, and an aspirant in 1807 before being captured by the British and held at Tiverton, Devon, from 1811 to 1812. He was ejected from the navy on the Bourbon Restoration
due to his liberal views and started writing pamphlets, leading him into several stand-offs with the law, firstly at Brest
in 1819 due to his writings in La Guêpe, then at Rouen
in 1823 in La Nacelle. The latter forced him to become a sailor again, this time in the merchant navy. He sailed for ten years as a long-distance captain of the Nina (an old three-master captured from the British), mainly between Le Havre
and Martinique
.
In the meantime he wrote several novels, the best-known of which, Le Négrier (1832), gained him national fame in France. In 1839 the Finistère steam-packet company (Compagnie des paquebots à vapeur du Finistère) began operating between Le Havre and Morlaix - Corbière was one of its administrators, then its director, until his death.
at which, on 22 August 1851, the schooner America won the trophy later renamed the America Cup. Corbière was also a member of the municipal council of Morlaix in 1855 and 1860. Entering the Chamber of Commerce in 1848, he was its vice-president from 1866 to 1868, then its president from 1868 to March 1875.
A few months before his death, Corbière was profoundly affected by the disappearance of his eldest son Édouard-Joachim (better known as Tristan Corbière
. His death was an occasion for public mourning in both Morlaix and Le Havre. The steam-packet company's ship Morlaix and the other ships sailing out of the ports of Finistère, all flew their flags at half mast, while the Morlaix herself carried Corbière's coffin, which was then taken ashore by sailors. In 1880, a short road in central Le Havre was renamed after Corbière and later Brest, Morlaix
(1905) and Roscoff
(1911) did the same. In 1906, the steam-packet company decided to name its fifth and last ship Édouard Corbière. The shipping company founded by Corbière in 1839 disappeared in 1921, after the French state failed to fully reimburse it for the loss of its last ship, torpedoed in the Mediterranean in 1917.
Brest
-Places:* Brest, Belarus ** Brest Fortress** Brest Railway Museum, the first outdoor railway museum in Belarus* Brest, France...
- 27 September 1875, Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
) was a French sailor, shipowner, journalist and writer, considered to be the father of the French maritime novel.
Early years
The Corbière family originated in Valès, a hamlet in the Haut-Languedoc (now part of the commune iof Le BezLe Bez
Le Bez is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.-References:*...
, to the east of Castres
Castres
Castres is a commune, and arrondissement capital in the Tarn department and Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It lies in the former French province of Languedoc....
, in the Tarn
Tarn
Tarn is a department of 5,758 km2 in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France, named after the Tarn River. It was formed in 1790 of the three dioceses of Albi, Castres and Lavaur, belonging to the province of Languedoc. In 1906, the population was 330,533...
département). At the time of Édouard's birth his father was an infantry captain in the French Navy - his mother, Jeanne-Renée Dubois, had been born at Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
in 1768. Édouard was the third of four children.
On his father's death in 1802, the young Édouard had no choice but to enter the navy to provide a family income. He became a mousse in 1804, a novice in 1806, and an aspirant in 1807 before being captured by the British and held at Tiverton, Devon, from 1811 to 1812. He was ejected from the navy on the Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
due to his liberal views and started writing pamphlets, leading him into several stand-offs with the law, firstly at Brest
Brest
-Places:* Brest, Belarus ** Brest Fortress** Brest Railway Museum, the first outdoor railway museum in Belarus* Brest, France...
in 1819 due to his writings in La Guêpe, then at Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
in 1823 in La Nacelle. The latter forced him to become a sailor again, this time in the merchant navy. He sailed for ten years as a long-distance captain of the Nina (an old three-master captured from the British), mainly between Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
and Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
.
Literary debut
He gave up sea-service for good in 1828, landing in Le Havre, where he was immediately approached by Stanislas Faure, manager of the Journal du Havre newspaper, and asked to become its editor, a post he held until 1839 and for which he wrote until 1843. Under his leadership this daily newspaper rose from a tiny advertisements sheet into a first-rank organ for commercial and maritime information.In the meantime he wrote several novels, the best-known of which, Le Négrier (1832), gained him national fame in France. In 1839 the Finistère steam-packet company (Compagnie des paquebots à vapeur du Finistère) began operating between Le Havre and Morlaix - Corbière was one of its administrators, then its director, until his death.
Final years
In 1844, his marriage to Marie-Angélique-Aspasie Puyo, younger daughter of his friend, the merchant Joachim Puyo, négociant, led Corbière to settle for good at Morlaix. He launched a regatta in 1851, then unsuccessfully proposed starting a national subscription for France to send a yacht to the regatta around the Isle of WightIsle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
at which, on 22 August 1851, the schooner America won the trophy later renamed the America Cup. Corbière was also a member of the municipal council of Morlaix in 1855 and 1860. Entering the Chamber of Commerce in 1848, he was its vice-president from 1866 to 1868, then its president from 1868 to March 1875.
A few months before his death, Corbière was profoundly affected by the disappearance of his eldest son Édouard-Joachim (better known as Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière , born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean in Brittany, where he lived most of his life and where he died....
. His death was an occasion for public mourning in both Morlaix and Le Havre. The steam-packet company's ship Morlaix and the other ships sailing out of the ports of Finistère, all flew their flags at half mast, while the Morlaix herself carried Corbière's coffin, which was then taken ashore by sailors. In 1880, a short road in central Le Havre was renamed after Corbière and later Brest, Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
(1905) and Roscoff
Roscoff
Roscoff is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The nearby Île de Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour....
(1911) did the same. In 1906, the steam-packet company decided to name its fifth and last ship Édouard Corbière. The shipping company founded by Corbière in 1839 disappeared in 1921, after the French state failed to fully reimburse it for the loss of its last ship, torpedoed in the Mediterranean in 1917.
Works
- À la Liberté publique, dithyrambDithyrambThe dithyramb was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god: Plato, in The Laws, while discussing various kinds of music mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb." Plato also...
, 1819 Online text - Le Dix-Neuvième Siècle, political satire, 1819 Online text
- La Marotte des Ultra, ou Recueil des chansons patriotiques, 1819 Online text
- Trois Jours d'une mission à Brest, 1819
- La Lanterne magique, pièce curieuse représentant la Chambre des Députés de 1819, 1819 Online text
- Les Philippiques françaises, poem, 1820
- Notre Âge, satire, 1821
- Élégies brésiliennes, suivies de Poésies diverses, et d'une Notice sur la traite des noirs, 1823 Online text
- Brésiliennes, 1825 Online text
- Corbière à Corbière. Épître à Son Excellence le comte de Corbière, 1827
- Poésies de Tibulle, French verse translation of the poems of TibullusTibullusAlbius Tibullus was a Latin poet and writer of elegies.Little is known about his life. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to Tibullus are of questionable origins. There are only a few references to him in later writers and a short Life of doubtful authority...
, 1829 - Les Pilotes de l'Iroise, maritime novel, 1832
- Contes de bord, 1833 Online text
- La Mer et les marins, maritime scenes, 1833 Online text
- Le Prisonnier de guerre, maritime novel, 1834
- Le Négrier, aventures de mer, 4 vol., 1834 Online text 1 2 3 4
- Scènes de mer, 2 vol., 1835 Online text 1 2
- Le Banian, maritime novel, 2 vol., 1836
- Les Folles-brises, 2 vol., 1838 Online text 1 2
- Les Trois Pirates, 2 vol., 1838
- Tribord et bâbord, maritime novel, 2 vol., 1840 Online text 1 2
- Pelaio, roman maritime, 2 vol., 1843 Online text 1 2
- Les Îlots de Martin Vaz, maritime novel, 2 vol., 1843 Online text 1 2
- Cric-Crac, maritime novel, 2 vol., 1846 Online text 1 2
- Pétition maritime à l'Assemblée nationale, 1848
- Questions soumises à l'enquête sur la marine marchande, 1851
External links
Site - town of Morlaix- Works by Édouard Corbière on Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
Jean Berthou: "Edouard Corbière, père du roman maritime en France, catalogue de l'exposition présentée à Brest et à Morlaix en 1990, 65 p., Gallimard, 1990. Jean Berthou: "Edouard Corbière, père naturel et spirituel de Tristan", in "Tristan Corbière en 1995", Comité Tristan Corbière/Bibliothèque de Morlaix, p. 43-53,1996. Pascal Rannou: "Le thème du naufrageur chez Edouard et Tristan Corbière: les aléas d'un topos maritime", in "Bretagne et mer en écriture", revue Plurial n°17, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, p. 217-230, 2008.