Maxime Du Camp (February 8, 1822 - February 9, 1894) was a French writer.
He was born in Paris, the son of a successful surgeon. He had a strong taste for travel, which his father's means enabled him to indulge as soon as his college days were over. Between 1844 and 1845, and again, in company with Gustave Flaubert, between 1849 and 1851, he travelled in Europe and the East, and made excellent use of his experiences in books published after his return.
In 1851 he was one of the founders of the Revue de Paris (suppressed in 1858), and was a frequent contributor to the Revue des deux mondes. In 1853 he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour. He served as a volunteer with Garibaldi in 1860, and gave an account of his experiences in his Expédition des deux Siciles (1861). In 1870 he was nominated for the senate, but his election was frustrated by the downfall of the Empire. He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1880, mainly, it is said, on account of his history of the Commune, published under the title of Les Convulsions de Paris (1878-1880).
His writings include among others:
- Chants modernes (1855)
- Convictions (1858)
Numerous works on travel:
Souvenirs et paysages d'orient (1848)
- Egypte, Nubie, Palestine, Syrie (1852)
Works of art criticism:
- Les Salons de 1857, 1859, 1861
Novels:
- L'Homme au bracelet d'or (1862)
- Une histoire d'amour (1889)
Literary studies:
Du Camp was the author of a valuable book on the daily life of Paris, Paris, ses organes, ses fonctions, sa vie dans la seconde moitié du XIX siècle (1869-1875). He published several works on social questions, one of which, the Mtvurs de mon temps, was to be kept sealed in the Bibliothèque Nationale until 1910. His Souvenirs littéraires (2 vols., 188 21883) contain much information about contemporary writers, especially Gustave Flaubert, of whom Du Camp was an early and intimate friend.
Du Camp was one of the earliest amateur photographers, and his books of travel were among the first to be illustrated by means of what was then a new art.
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