AUGIER,
Guillaume Victor Emile, French dramatist: b. Valence, 17 Sept. 1820; d. Croissy, 25 Oct. 1889. He was well educated and prepared for the bar. He was the grandson of Pigault Lebrun, and from him inherited a bent for literature. In 1844 he wrote a two-act play in verse,
Cigue,' which enjoyed considerable success at the Odeon. Thereafter his career was decided and at regular intervals for many years, alone or in collaboration with others — Sandeau, La biche, Foussier—plays were produced which raised the drama to a realistic life and to a truer morality than it had known since Moliere.
(1868) was the first of his im portant works and in it there is apparent a deviation from the romantic models of the earlier years of the century.
(1849) champions the average conventional.
(1852) and
pierre de touche' (1853) show a tendency to get away from the sensationalism of the romanticists. (Le fill de Giboyer' (1862) was regarded as an attack on the Cler ical party and was only brotAght out by the direct intervention of the Emperor. With Sandeau he produced (Le gendre de M. Pair ler' (1854), thought by many the greatest French drama of the 19th century.
manage d'Olympe' (1855) shows the cour tesan as she is and without the glamour with which she was surrounded by the romanticists. In
lionnes pauvres) (1858) appears Augier's greatest female character, Seraphim. (Maitre Guerin' (1864) presents a fine study of the tricky country lawyer. In 1873 appeared 'Jean de Thommeray.' While patriotic it is a trifle prosaic and its success was medi ocre.
Caverlet' (1876) deals with divorce and (Les Fourchambault' (1879) is also a problem play. Angier was not a mere preacher, but a moralist, with a sane outlook on life. His dramas are not dependent merely on plot for their interest, but rather in the de lineation and evolution of the characters intro duced. See LE GENDRE DE M. POINTER ; LE Fn.s DE GIBOYER, Consult Doumic,
d' ecrivains' (Paris 1894) • Gaillard,
Au gier et la comedie socile' (Paris 1910) ; La tour,
theatres' (ib. 1880) ; Matthews, 'French Dramatists' (New York 1881) ; Par- got, 'Emile Angier' (Paris 1890) ; Wells, 'Modern French Literature' (Boston 1899).