(1822-1894)
[Illustration: MAXIME DU CAMP]
"Why have I always felt happy, filled with the spirit of content and
of infinite independence, whenever I have slept in the tent or in the
ruins of foreign lands?" The love of change and adventure has been the
spring of Du Camp's life, a life whose events are blended so
intimately with his literary achievement, that to know the one is to
know the other. This practical man of the world has an imaginative,
beauty-loving side to his nature, which craves stimulus from tropical
unfamiliar nature and exotic ways.
So, after the usual training of French boys in lycee and college,--"in
those hideous houses where they wearied our childhood," as he
says,--the just-emancipated youth of twenty-two left his home in Paris
for an eighteen-months' trip in the far East. The color and variety of
the experience whetted his love of travel, and very soon after his
return he began a serious study of photography in view of future
plans.
Then came the revolution of 1848, the overthrow of Louis Philippe; and
Du Camp had an opportunity to prove his courage and patriotism in the
ranks of the National Guard. In his 'Souvenirs de l'Annee 1848,' he
tells the story with color and interest, and with the forceful logic
of an eye-witness.
His bravery and a serious wound won him the red ribbon of the Legion
of Honor, bestowed by General Cavaignac. This drew attention to him,
and led the minister of public instruction to intrust him a few months
later with a mission of exploration to Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, and
Asia Minor; a result of which trip was his first literary success.
Utilizing his photographic knowledge, he collected a great many
negatives for future development. Upon his return he published a
volume of descriptive sketches, 'Le Nil, Egypte, et Nubie,' generously
illustrated with printed reproductions of these pictures. This first
combination of photography and typography was popular, and was
speedily imitated, initiative of many illustrated books.
Later, Du Camp's warlike and exploring instincts led him at his own
expense into Sicily with Garibaldi, where he collected matter and
photographs for 'Les Deux Siciles', another successful volume. In 1851
he associated with others to found the Revue de Paris, for which he
wrote regularly until its suspension in 1858. He has also written a
great deal for the Revue des Deux Mondes, in which for several years
he continued a series of historical studies upon the government of
Paris. The six volumes upon 'Paris: its Organs, its Functions, its
Life, during the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century,' form one of
his chief achievements. His personal knowledge on the subject, and his
access to valuable unpublished documents, give it authoritative value.
In 'Les Ancetres de la Commune,' and 'Les Convulsions de Paris,' he
has accomplished much more in the same line. The latter, a brilliant
circumstantial exposition of the Commune, a logical condemnation of
its folly and ignorance, brought him gratitude from the French
Academy, and aided his election to that body in 1880. For this
extensive work on contemporary politics, for his illustrated travels,
and his artistic and literary criticism, he is better known than for
his two or three novels and volumes of poetry.
Du Camp's may be characterized as a soldierly style, strong, direct,
and personal. He loves to retrace old scenes with the later visible
sequence of cause and effect. Always straightforward, sometimes
bluntly self-assertive, he is sometimes eloquent. Perhaps his great
charm is spontaneity.