In 1929 Eugène Dabit brought out a novel, L'Hôtel du Nord, in which he painted with tenderness a modest hotel on the banks of the canal Saint-Martin; he was awarded the brand-new Prix du roman populiste. Marcel Carné would make from it a film that became a classic of pre-war cinema. Dabit died in 1936, in the Soviet Union, during the journey he was making there with André Gide.
The story
Born in 1898, Eugène Dabit published “L'Hôtel du Nord” in 1929, a novel drawn from the hotel his parents kept on the bank of the Canal Saint-Martin, on the quai de Jemmapes. It won the very first prix du roman populiste.
The novel gave Marcel Carné the film of the same name in 1938, one of the classics of pre-war French cinema, and it was the film that carried the Canal Saint-Martin far beyond the world of books.
He died on 21 August 1936 at Sevastopol, of scarlet fever, during the Soviet journey he was making with André Gide — the one from which Gide would bring back “Retour de l'U.R.S.S.”, his recantation of the regime. He lies in Division 44.
On site, do not miss
A grave linked to one of the popular classics of the French novel and of French cinema.
Visitors' questions
What is Eugène Dabit's “L'Hôtel du Nord”?
A novel of 1929 that paints, with real tenderness, daily life in a cheap hotel on the banks of the canal Saint-Martin in Paris. It won the very first Prix du roman populiste and inspired Marcel Carné's film of 1938.
The writers and poetsHow did Eugène Dabit die?
In 1936, in the Soviet Union, where he was travelling with André Gide on a journey that would deeply disillusion the writer about the realities of Stalin's regime — an outcome Dabit did not live to see.
Marcel ProustIs the film L'Hôtel du Nord faithful to the novel?
Marcel Carné's film, released in 1938, takes its own liberties with Eugène Dabit's novel and turned it into a classic of French cinema, making the canal Saint-Martin setting famous for good.
Alain DecauxDo other writers from the same Division rest at Père-Lachaise?
Yes, notably Pierre Daninos and Sully Prudhomme, who also rest in Division 44, alongside Eugène Dabit.
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