Edmond de Goncourt

Edmond de Goncourt (May 26, 1822 – July 16, 1896), born Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt, was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.

Biography

Goncourt was born in Nancy. For much of his life, he collaborated with his brother Jules creating works of art criticism, and subsequently several novels; after the death of Jules he continued to write novels alone.

He bequeathed his entire estate for the foundation and maintenance of the Académie Goncourt. In honour of his brother and collaborator, Jules de Goncourt, (December 17, 1830 – June 20, 1870), each December since 1903, the Académie awards the Prix Goncourt. It is the most prestigious prize in French language literature, given to "the best imaginary prose work of the year".

Marcel Proust, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Tournier, Marguerite Duras and Romain Gary (who exceptionally won it twice) are among the best-known authors who have won the century-old prize.

Goncourt brothers

The Goncourt brothers (French: [ɡɔ̃kuːʁ]) were Edmond de Goncourt ([ɛdmɔ̃], 1822–96) and Jules de Goncourt ([ʒyl], 1830–70), both French naturalism writers who as collaborative sibling authors, were inseparable in life.

Partnership

They formed a partnership that "is possibly unique in literary history. Not only did they write all their books together, they did not spend more than a day apart in their adult lives, until they were finally parted by Jules's death in 1870." They are known for their literary work and for their diaries, which offer an intimate view into the French literary society of the later 19th century.

Career

Their career as writers began with an account of a sketching holiday together. They then published books on aspects of 18th-century French and Japanese art and society. Their histories (Portraits intimes du XVIIIe siècle (1857), La Femme au XVIIIe siècle (1862), La du Barry (1878), and others) are made entirely out of documents, autograph letters, scraps of costume, engravings, songs, the unconscious self-revelations of the time. In their volumes (e.g., Portraits intimes du XVIII siecle), they dismissed the vulgarity of the Second Empire in favour of a more refined age. They wrote the long Journal des Goncourt from 1851, which gives a view of the literary and social life of their time.