Émile Goudeau


Émile Goudeau was a French journalist, novelist and poet. He was the founder of the Hydropathes literary club.

Life

He was born in Périgueux, Dordogne, the son of Germain Goudeau, an architect, and cousin of Léon Bloy. Goudeau studied at the seminary, and then was supervisor in different high schools before becoming an employee at the Ministry of Finance,
which gave him the opportunity to devote most of his time to poetry.
According to Maurice Donnay:
Goudeau founded the Hydropathes society on 11 October 1878.
According to Goudeau, the name came from the Hydropathen-valsh by the Hungarian-German musician Joseph Gungl.
The purpose of the society was to promote the works of the members.
The Hydropathes Café in the rue Cujas was a large hall that could accommodate several hundred people.
The society staged evening entertainments in the form of poetry or prose readings and songs.
The society published a journal for about year, starting in January 1879, containing writings and pictures by members of the society.
The Hydropathes drank heavily in the bohemian way of that time, particularly green absinthe, which was rampant.
Goudeau paid his collaborators in drink, and this salary was fatal to the most gifted of them, Jules Jouy.
At first the Hydropathes met on the Left Bank, but when Rodolphe Salis opened his cabaret, Le Chat Noir, in December 1881,
he persuaded Goudeau to move the society there.
Goudeau helped Salis to launch his journal Le Chat Noir, which first appeared on 14 January 1882, drawing on his experience with the Hydropathes journal. Goudeau was chief editor of Le Chat Noir from 1882 to 1884.

Works

The Place Émile-Goudeau in the 18th arrondissement of Paris is named in his honor. It is on Montmartre hill just below the Place du Tertre.

English translations published in the United States