The Minor French Novelists

The array is somewhat embarrassing; to the term minor novelists a formidable host responds. Octave Feuillet, Gustave Flaubert, Ernest Feydeau, Edmond About, Mme. de Goncourt, Gustave Droz, the younger Dumas, Victor Cherbuliez, Erckmann-Chatrian—these are some of the names that immediately present themselves. All these names, with one exception (that of Alexandre Dumas), represent a constellation of romances more or less brilliant; and in their intervals glitters here and there a single star—some very clever tale by an author who has tried or succeeded but once.