François Fertiault

Biography

Fertiault was born in Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, in département Saône-et-Loire, located in central eastern France. His father was a soldier who combatted under Napoléon and died during the German Campaign of 1813. Thanks to the help provided by his uncle and a clerk, François Fertiault attended a school in Chalon-sur-Saône since 1820, where he graduated Baccalauréat at the age of 20.

During his school years, Fertiault's literary drafts proved to be promising; Fertiault was immediately hired within the editorial board of the newspaper Patriote de Saône-et-Loire and starts working as a literary critic. Then, he settled in Paris, where he worked in the printing house Donbey-Dupré from August 8, 1835. In 1836, he is hired as a secretary in a bank in Bischoffsheim, in département Bas-Rhin, in north-eastern France. He worked there until the French Revolution of 1848.

In 1841, François Fertiault married Julie Rodde, one of the daughters of journalist Victor Rodde (1792—1835). The only child he had with her died during its childhood in 1856. Fertiault supports his wife in his literary works, and published several books with her.

Fertiault and his wife settled in Paris a few years later. There, they work as publishers of the periodical Feuilleton de Paris, and then of the Bulletin de Paris between 1858 and 1864. Besides his author career, Fertiault was also a literary critic until the end of his life, mainly dealing with modern and contemporary literature. Thanks to Alphonse Lemerre, Fertiault joined the Parnassianism move and collaborated to the redaction of the famous anthology Le Parnasse contemporain. Fertiault also corresponded with the Norman poet Alexandre Piédagnel.

Fertiault's wife, Julie, died in 1900. Fertiault retired progressively from his literary career and died at the age of 101, on October 5 in Paris.

Works

Tribute

In Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, Fertiault's natal village, a street is named "François Fertiault".