Daudet has given the impressions and the experiences of his early life
in the two volumes with which he established his reputation: _Le Petit
Chose_ and _Lettres de Mon Moulin_; in the former he describes the
struggles of his boyhood, and in the latter the customs and legends
of his native Provence. The books which he published later are of a
different character, marked by the influence of the Naturalistic School,
but unlike the other members of this school, he was endowed with a
spontaneous, sympathetic nature, which enabled him to feel what he
described. Thus while de Maupassant describes with the greatest art
what he observes, Daudet sympathetically describes what he observes and
feels. He had too much originality ever to come completely under the
influence of the Naturalists. His short stories usually deal with some
incident of the Franco-Prussian War (_Le Siège de Berlin, La Dernière
Classe, La Vision du Juge de Colmar_, etc.) or with life in the Midi
(_Lettres de Mon Moulin_). _Le Curé de Cucugnan_ and _Le Sous-Préfet aux
Champs_ are taken from _Lettres de Mon Moulin_ (1869), the remaining
three stories of the collection are taken from _Contes du Lundi_ (1873).
His best novels are given in the following list; in these he has often
been compared with Dickens and Thackeray.
Important works (besides the collections of short stories mentioned):
_Les Amoureuses_ (verse, 1858), _Le Petit Chose_ (1868), _Aventures
Prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon_ (1872), _L'Arlésienne_ (drama,
1872), _Fromont Jeune et Risler Aîné_ (1874), _Jack_ (1876), _Le
Nabab_ (1877), _Les Rois en Exil_ (1879), _Numa Roumestan_ (1881),
_L'Évangéliste_ (1883), _Sapho_ (1884), _Tartarin sur les Alpes_ (1885),
_La Défense de Tarascon_ (1887), _L'Immortel_ (1888), _Port Tarascon_
(1890).
Edition: Flammarion, 13 vols. (illustrated); Charpentier, Dentu, Hetzel
and Lemerre have each published portions of his work.