View source for Alphonse Rabbe

{{Short description|French writer, historian, critic, and journalist}}
{{expand French|topic=bio|Alphonse Rabbe|date=February 2022}}
'''Alphonse Rabbe''' ([[Alpes-de-Haute-Provence]], 1784 (?) – [[Paris]], 31 December 1829) was a French writer, historian, critic, and journalist.

==Life==
Rabbe was a journalist, writing mostly about the arts. He also published a number of works of popularised history. Disfigured by [[syphilis]] and addicted to [[opium]] in an effort to make his life bearable, Rabbe is today remembered for his ''Album d'un pessimiste'' in which he writes of the pointlessness of existence. It was published posthumously in 1835. He is also thought to have penned a novel, ''La Sœur grise'', but the manuscript has not survived. Despite his almost complete detachment from society, he was friends with some of the most important literary figures of his day including [[Victor Hugo]], [[Alexandre Dumas, père]], and [[Benjamin Constant]]. He died in 1829 from an overdose of [[laudanum]]. Though little known today, he inspired like-minded writers such as [[Baudelaire]] and [[Cioran]].

==Works==
* introduction to ''Voyage pittoresque en Espagne'' by A.Laborde, 1808
* ''Précis d'histoire de la Russie'', 1812
* ''Résumé de l'histoire d' Espagne'', 1823
* ''Résumé de l'histoire du Portugal'', 1823
* ''Résumé de l'histoire de la Russie'', 1825
* ''Histoire d'Alexandre I empereur de Russie'', 1826
* ''Album d’un pessimiste'' (1835)

==References==
* France, Peter (Ed.) (1995). ''The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. {{ISBN|0-19-866125-8}}
* Frey, John Andrew (1999). ''A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. {{ISBN|0-313-29896-3}}
* Boura, Olivier (2017): ''Dictionnaire des écrivains marseillais'', Marseille, éditions Gaussen
* de Wieclawik, Lucienne (1963): ''Alphonse Rabbe dans la mêlée politique et littéraire de la Restauration'' (thèse présentée à la Sorbonne pour le doctorat ès lettres), Librairie Nizet, Paris
* Véron, Louis-Désiré Véron (reprint 1836): ''Revue de Paris'', vol. 32, p.&nbsp;58 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=B-HHZuGoYXwC&pg=PAPA58 onlin version])
* Touraine, Yves (1960): ''Le Suicide ascétique: essai'', Nouvelles Éditions Debresse, 115 pages, p.&nbsp;76

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[[Category:1780s births]]
[[Category:1829 deaths]]
[[Category:French male writers]]
[[Category:Drug-related suicides in France]]


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