ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN, erk'man-shie tre'ax'. The name employed to indicate the joint authorship of EMILE ERCKMANN (182•-99) and ALEXANDRE CHATRIAN whose com bined work affords one of the most remarkable instances of modern collaboration. Erckmann was born in Pfalzburg (in Lorraine), Chatrian at Soldatcnthal (in the same district). Both were. therefore, of that border territory annexed to Germany in 1871, in which is laid the scene of most of their works. Erckmann had successfully studied law in Paris, and Chatrian for a time had been an instructor in the college at I'falzburg, when they be gan the publication, in the Democrate du Rhin. of a series of feuilletons. The story "L'illustre docteur Matheus" (1859), originally published in the Reeve Your('lle, was their first success. This they followed up with a long and widely read series, of which the Histoire d'•n consent de 1813 (1S64) is the best-known vol ume. L'ami Fritz (1S64) and Waterloo (1S65).
a sequel to the Conscrit, should also be men tioned. As dramatists Erckmann and Chatrian appeared in two productions of much merit. Le juif polonais (1869) and L'ami Fritz (187(3), the latter derived from their book of that name. The former is familiar in England and America through its adaptation (1871) by Leopold Lewis as The Bells, the "Mathias" of which is one of the most skillful impersonations in the repertoire of Sir Henry Irving. The stories are marked by humor, clever characterization, and convincing details of local color. The literary partnership was finally dissolved. Erckmann's independent work is of less importance. An edition by Pfau, of German translations of the chief joint works, appeared at Stuttgart in 1SS2 (9 vols.).