author
Eugène (Dramatist) Leclerc
A little-known 19th-century French writer remembered today for the work behind Coward or Hero?, a story that turns questions of bravery and fear into a lively tale for younger readers. Though biographical details are scarce, the surviving record points to an author whose work crossed into English translation and found readers beyond France.
1 Audiobook
Coward or Hero?
by Eugène (Dramatist) Leclerc
About the author
Very little confirmed biographical information seems to survive about Eugène Leclerc. Library records identify him as a French author and dramatist, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France lists a Eugène Leclerc who died in 1899.
He is best known in English-language catalogs for Coward or Hero?, published in London in 1884 in Mrs. Sale Barker's translation from the French original Le nez du colonel. That publication history suggests his work had enough appeal to travel across borders and reach Victorian readers.
Because the record is so thin, Leclerc remains a somewhat shadowy figure today. Still, the continued preservation of his work in major library and public-domain collections has kept his name alive for readers interested in forgotten French popular fiction and drama.