Marc Girardin

After a brilliant university career in the city, he began in 1828 to contribute to the Journal des Débats, on the staff of which he remained for nearly half a century.

Soon afterwards he exchanged his chair of history for one of poetry, continuing to contribute political articles to the Journal des Débats, and sitting as deputy in the Chamber from 1835 to 1848.

During the Revolution of February 1848 Girardin was for a moment a minister, but after the establishment of the Second French Republic, he was not re-elected deputy in the National Assembly.

The author examined dramatic passions, discussing the mode in which they are treated in ancient and modern drama, poetry and romance.

Girardin's other works included Essais de littérature (2 vols., 1844), made up chiefly of contributions to the Débats, his Notices sur l'Allemagne (1834), and many volumes of collected Souvenirs, Réflexions, etc., on foreign countries and passing events (including his notes on the period of Russian administration in the Danubian Principalities).