Amédée Achard, born in 1814, went up from Marseille to the Paris newsrooms and wrote everywhere, for the Charivari as for the Figaro, like a whole generation that lived from day to day on what it wrote. It was his swashbuckling novels that made him a place, in Dumas's wake. When he died, in 1875, his fellow writers gave him a monument. One looks in vain there for his name: only his wife is named.
The story
Amédée Achard left Marseilles for the Paris newsrooms, where he first made a name as a journalist. The Vert-Vert, the Charivari, the Pamphlet, then the Figaro: he wrote fast and everywhere, like a whole generation of men of letters who lived by their pen from one day to the next.
It was the novel that gave him his place. Duels, conspiracies and hard riding: he counts among the fathers of the cape-and-sword novel, the swashbuckling genre born under the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe, whose giant is Dumas, and which fed the newspaper serials for half a century.
At his death, in 1875, his fellow writers did what they rarely do: the Société des gens de lettres, the writers' guild, raised him a monument in Division 85, avenue des Thuyas, and gave the sculpture to Louis Charles Janson. The profession's homage to one of its own.
Anyone who stops at the stone, though, looks in vain for the novelist's name. The inscription reads “Mᵐᵉ Amédée Achard, née Arboult” and, below it, their daughter “Magdeleine Maquet, née Amédée Achard”. He is there only through the name his wife and his daughter carry.
The grave
A monument raised by the Société des gens de lettres and sculpted by Louis Charles Janson (1823-1881) — the profession's tribute to one of its own. The inscription, curiously, does not name the novelist: it reads “Mme Amédée ACHARD, née ARBOULT, 1824-1900” and “Magdeleine MAQUET, née Amédée ACHARD, 1856-1909” — his wife and his daughter. He appears there only through the name they bear.
On site, do not miss
The monument is a tribute from the Société des gens de lettres, sculpted by Janson — but the inscription names only his wife and his daughter, “née Amédée Achard”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Amédée Achard's grave?
In Division 85, avenue des Thuyas, second row — the Division of Marcel Proust. The monument was raised by the Société des gens de lettres and sculpted by Louis Charles Janson.
Marcel ProustWho paid for his monument?
The Société des gens de lettres — the writers' professional body —, which entrusted the sculpture to Louis Charles Janson (1823-1881). It is one of the few monuments in the cemetery presented by a society of authors.
Edmond AboutWhat did he write?
Swashbuckling novels, of which he is one of the founding fathers, and a great deal of journalism: Vert-Vert, Charivari, Pamphlet, then Le Figaro. He was a native of Marseille.
Frédéric SouliéIs his name on the stone?
No: the inscription bears his wife, “Mᵐᵉ Amédée ACHARD, née ARBOULT, 1824-1900”, and their daughter, “Magdeleine MAQUET, née Amédée ACHARD, 1856-1909”. The novelist is named there only through them.
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