Editing Alphonse Daudet (section)

==Early life==
Daudet was born in [[Nîmes]], France.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/reviewofreviewsw17newy#page/160/mode/2up "Sketch of Alphonse Daudet,"] ''Review of Reviews'', Vol. 17, No. 2, 1898, p. 161.</ref> His family, on both sides, belonged to the ''[[bourgeoisie]]''. His father, Vincent Daudet, was a [[silk]] manufacturer—a man dogged through life by misfortune and failure. Alphonse, amid much truancy, had a depressing boyhood. In 1856 he left [[Lyon]], where his schooldays had been mainly spent, and began his career as a schoolteacher at [[Alès]], [[Gard]], in the south of France. The position proved to be intolerable and Daudet said later that for months after leaving Alès he would wake with horror, thinking he was still among his unruly pupils. These experiences and others were reflected in his novel ''[[Le Petit Chose]]''.

On 1 November 1857, he abandoned teaching and took refuge with his brother [[Ernest Daudet]], three years his senior, who was trying, "and thereto soberly", to make a living as a [[journalist]] in Paris. Alphonse took to writing, and his poems were collected into a small volume, ''Les Amoureuses'' (1858), which met with a fair reception.  He obtained employment on ''[[Le Figaro]]'', then under [[Hippolyte de Villemessant|Cartier de Villemessant]]'s energetic editorship, wrote two or three plays, and began to be recognized in literary communities as possessing distinction and promise. [[Duc de Morny|Morny]], [[Napoleon III]]'s all-powerful minister, appointed him to be one of his secretaries—a post which he held till Morny's death in 1865.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Daudet, Alphonse|volume=7|page=848|first=Frank Thomas|last=Marzials}}</ref>