Vigny, Alfred Victor, Comte de 1797-1863
French writer

He was born in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, and served in the Royal Guards (1814-28), retiring with a captaincy. His experiences provided the material for Servitude et grandeur militaires (1835, Eng trans Military Servitude and Grandeur, 1919), a candid commentary on the boredom and frustration induced by peace-time soldiering. He had already published some verse anonymously, and Po�mes antiques et modernes (1826, 'Ancient and Modern Poems', expanded edition 1829), which depicts Moses as the hopelessly overburdened servant of God. He married an English-woman, Lydia Bunbury, in 1828, but his life was marred by domestic unhappiness, and a failed attempt to enter parliament (1848-49). Much of his work reflects his disappointment and pessimism, particularly the romantic drama Chatterton (1835, Eng trans 1847), written for his love, the actress Marie Dorval, and Stello (1832) and Daphn� (1912, posthumous), which describe the tragic fates of the young poets, Thomas Chatterton, Gilbert and Andr� Ch�nier. Other notable works include the historical novel Cinq-Mars (1826, Eng trans Cinq-Mars; or, a Conspiracy under Louis XIII, 1847), the plays Le More de Venise (1829, based on Shakespeare's Othello) and La Mar�chale d'Ancre (1831, 'The Wife of the Marshal of Ancre'), and his Journal (1867).

Bibliography: A Whitridge, Alfred de Vigny (1933)