CLADEL, LEON (1835-1892), French novelist, was born at Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) on March 13, 1835. He made a reputation by his first book, Les Martyrs ridicules (1862), a novel for which Charles Baudelaire, whose literary disciple Cladel was, wrote a preface. His best novels are realistic pictures of peasant life in his native district of Quercy. They include: Le Nomsne Qouael (1868), Le Bouscassie (1869), Les Va-nu-pieds (1873), a volume of short stories, and N'a qu'un oeil (1882). He died at Sevres on July 20, 1892.
See La Vie de Leon Cladel (19o5), by his daughter Judith Cladel, containing also an article on Cladel by Edmond Picard.