Gerfaut -- Complete

Pierre-Marie-Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette (24 February 1804 – 6 March 1850), better known simply as Charles de Bernard, was a French writer. He had published a volume of odes: ‘Plus Deuil que Joie’ (1838), which was not much noticed, but a series of stories in the same year gained him the reputation of a genial ‘conteur’. They were collected under the title ‘Le Noeud Gordien’, and one of the tales, ‘Une Aventure du Magistrat,’ was adapted by Victorien Sardou for his comedy ‘Pommes du voisin’. ‘Gerfaut’, generally acclaimed as his greatest work, crowned by the Academy, appeared also in 1838, then followed ‘Le Paravent’, another collection of short stories (1839); ‘Les Ailes d’Icare’ (1840); La Peau du Lion and La Chasse aux Amants (1841); L’Écueil (1842); Un Beau-père (1845); and ‘Le Gentilhomme campagnard,’ in 1847. Bernard wrote two comedies in collaboration with “Léonce” (Charles-Henri-Ladislas Laurençot, 1805–1862). A collection of Bernard’s complete works in 12 volumes was published after his death.