Paul de Kock

Born in Passy, near Paris, on May 21, 1793, Paul de Kock grew up during the upheaval of the French Revolution. He became an extraordinarily prolific French novelist and also wrote for the stage, building a large readership with stories set among the middle classes and ordinary people of Paris.

His fiction was known for its bustle, humor, and close attention to Parisian manners, cafés, romances, and mishaps. In his own time he was one of the most widely read authors in Europe, even though many critics looked down on his work as too broad or too popular.

That gap between critical opinion and reader enthusiasm is part of what makes him interesting today. Paul de Kock offers a vivid window into everyday 19th-century urban life, and his books still carry the quick pace and theatrical flair that made them so successful with general audiences.