Marcel Prévost

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Marcel Prévost

French novelist

Also known as: Eugène-Marcel Prévost

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Quick Facts

In full:: Eugène-Marcel Prévost

Born:: May 1, 1862, Paris, France

Died:: April 8, 1941, Vianne (aged 78)

Also Known As:: Eugène-Marcel Prévost

Notable Works:: “Françoise maman”; “Les Demi-Vierges”; “Lettres à Françoise”; “Lettres à Françoise mariée”

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Marcel Prévost (born May 1, 1862, Paris, France—died April 8, 1941, Vianne) was a French novelist who made a sensation in France in the 1890s with stories purporting to show the corrupting effect of Parisian education and Parisian society on young women.

Prévost resigned his post as a civil engineer after the success of his first two novels, Le Scorpion (1887) and Chonchette (1888). He subsequently wrote 50 more novels, some of which were dramatized and had a moderate success on the stage. The best-known among them was entitled Les Demi-Vierges (1894; “The Half-Virgins”); a dramatized version of the book was a great success.

His Lettres à Françoise (1902; “Letters to Françoise”), Lettres à Françoise mariée (1908; “Letters to Françoise, Married”), and Françoise maman (1912; “Françoise, Mama”)—books of wise counsel to young girls—were even more widely read than his novels. He was elected to the Académie Française in 1909.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.