Alexandre Chatrian

While staying at Paris, Erckmann witnessed the Revolution of 1848: inspired, they founded a political club at Phalsbourg and a short-lived newsletter at Strasbourg.

At the start of the 1850s they began publishing in Le Démocrate du Rhin, expecting quick success, but after several years they became disillusioned.

In 1868 the publisher Hetzel bought exclusive rights to their work, and in May 1869 Chatrian purchased a property at Raincy.

With the Franco-Prussian War, the works of the two lorrains gained a popularity which was closely related to nationalistic desires for revenge and nostalgia for the "blue line of the Vosges."

On 13 March 1887, Chatrian, who was battling mental illness, wrote to Erckmann that he was paying ghost-writers out of their common royalties.

On 19 August 1889, Chatrian's former secretary published an article in Le Figaro attacking Erckmann, who responded with a lawsuit.