To close out 2012, we asked library staff members to write lists–of anything they want. Today we feature Sarah Meisch’s top ten Frenchmen born in the 19th century (and one stylish Frenchwoman!)
Sarah is the Serials Acquisitions Assistant at the Cudahy Library.
Top 10 Frenchmen Born in the 19th Century (And One Stylish Frenchwoman)
10. Baron Haussmann (1809-1891)
Have you ever been to Paris? Did you enjoy strolling down the tree-lined boulevards? Did you ever wonder who designed said boulevards? It was this guy, Georges-Eugene Haussmann, under the aegis of Napoleon III. But did you also know that the wide boulevards were designed, in part, to keep quibbling members of the proletariat from building barricades and fomenting revolts?
9. Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Monet was just one of the Impressionists who would change the world of art. And I don’t care who you are, those water lilies are beautiful.
8. Coco Chanel (1883-1971)
Ladies, are you ever glad that you don’t have to wear a corset and a bustle every day? If you are, give thanks to the woman who set fashion on the right course and made simple fabulous.
7. Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
Rodin gouged from stone some of the most famous sculptures in existence – The Thinker, The Gates of Hell. And he gets bonus points for having immortalized in marble the man who takes the top spot on this list.
6. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Franco-Prussian War, paranormal happenings, prostitution – all are recurring themes in Guy’s short stories. Before he died of syphilis in 1893, he composed his own epitaph, “I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing.” Quelle Tragedie!
5. Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
The ultimate bohemian, Baudelaire poured the darkness in his soul into his game-changing poetry.
4. Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)
Yes, de Gaulle is my favorite Frenchman ever. Period. End of Story. But all the great acts of The-Man-Who-Was-France happened in the 20th century, so he only gets 4th on this list.
3. Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855)
This man wrote beautiful, insane stories and had a pet lobster named Thibault. What more do you want?
2. Emile Zola (1840-1902)
Department Stores, Pilgrimages, Train Murders – you name it, he wrote a novel about it. Not to mention the whole being on the right side of the Dreyfus Affair thing…
1. Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
There can only be one greatest Frenchman of the 19th century, and Victor Hugo is the only choice. His literature was his gift to humanity. More than two million people flooded the streets of Paris in his funeral procession.
