Louis Henri Boussenard

Born Oct. 4, 1847, in Escrennes, Loire Department; died Sept. 11, 1910, in Orléans. French writer known for his many travels. In 1877, Boussenard began writing novels with fast-moving plots and an abundance of geographical, scientific, and historical materials. His heroes, as depicted in such works as Across Australia: 10,000,000 Red Opossums (1879) and The World Tour of a Parisian Kid (1880), are usually young Frenchmen who display miracles of bravery and ingenuity. Boussenard also wrote science fiction novels: The Secret of Doctor Synthesis (1888; Russian translation, 1928) and Ten Thousand Years on the Ice (1890). Boussenard’s works contain elements of a colonialist ideology, but his work on the whole is inspired by humane motives. His sympathy for oppressed peoples is expressed in such novels as Captain Daredevil (1901; Russian translation, 1911), about the Anglo-Boer War, and Island on Fire (1898) about Cuba’s struggle for independence.