Alphonse Rabbe was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 writer, historian, critic, and journalist.

Life

Disfigured by syphilis

Syphilis

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...

 and addicted to opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

 in an effort to make his life bearable, Rabbe is today remembered for his Album d’un pessimiste in which he writes of the pointlessness of existence. It was published posthumously in 1835. He is also thought to have penned a novel, La Sœur grise, but the manuscript has not survived. Despite his almost complete detachment from society, he was friends with some of the most important literary figures of his day including Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....

, Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...

, and Benjamin Constant

Benjamin Constant

Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-born French nobleman, thinker, writer and politician.-Biography:...

. He died in 1829 from an overdose of laudanum

Laudanum

Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....

. Though little known today, he inspired like-minded writers such as Baudelaire and Cioran.

Works

• introduction to Voyage pittoresque en Espagne by A.Laborde, 1808
• Précis d'histoire de la Russie, 1812
• Résumé de l'histoire d' Espagne, 1823
• Résumé de l'histoire du Portugal, 1823
• Résumé de l'histoire de la Russie, 1825
• Histoire d'Alexandre I empereur de Russie, 1826
• Album d’un pessimiste (1835)