Karr, JEAN BAPTISTE ALPHONSE

Karr, JEAN BAPTISTE ALPHONSE, a French novelist who long survived his popularity, was born at Paris, November 24, 1808. He was educated at the Collège Bourbon, and early devoted himself to journalism. His Sous les Tillules (1832), the outcome of a disappointment in love, by its originality and wit found its author an audience for a long series of novels, of which Génévrière (1838) only need be mentioned here. In 1839 he became editor of Figaro, and in the same year he started the issue of Les Guêpes, the gay and brilliant but sometimes bitter satire of which brought him many readers, no little ill-will, and attempted assassination from a woman's hand. These papers he collected in seven volumes (1853-57)—an attempted revival of the series subsequently to 1870 proved a miserable failure. In 1855 Karr went to live at Nice, where he occupied himself with gardening. His Voyage autour de mon Jardin (1845) is one of his best-known books. His Œuvres complètes were collected in 1860. He died September 30, 1890.—His daughter, THÉRÈSE KARR (born 1835), has published tales and historical books.