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Mémoires de Vidocq - Tome I
Ce livre est une oeuvre du domaine public éditée au format numérique par Ebooks libres et gratuits. L’achat de l’édition Kindle inclut le téléchargement via un réseau sans fil sur votre liseuse et vos applications de lecture Kindle.
291 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1828
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23 people want to read
About the author
Eugène François Vidocq
132 books10 followersEugène François Vidocq (French pronunciation: [øʒɛn fʁɑ̃swa viˈdɔk) was a French criminal and criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. A former crook who subsequently became the founder and first director of the crime-fighting Sûreté Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency, he is today considered by historians to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police. He is also regarded as the first private detective.
Eugène-François Vidocq est un aventurier français, successivement délinquant, bagnard, indicateur puis policier et enfin détective privé.
Forçat évadé du bagne, il devient chef de l'officieuse « brigade de sûreté » de la préfecture de police de Paris, puis fonde une agence de détectives privés.
Eugène-François Vidocq est un aventurier français, successivement délinquant, bagnard, indicateur puis policier et enfin détective privé.
Forçat évadé du bagne, il devient chef de l'officieuse « brigade de sûreté » de la préfecture de police de Paris, puis fonde une agence de détectives privés.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 20, 2016
“It takes a thief to catch a thief.” The adage applies to Eugene François Vidocq (1775-1857), the reformed French criminal who became a police spy, head of the Sûreté (plainclothes criminal investigation division of the Paris Prefecture of Police) and later, private investigator. A controversial figure, he is generally recognized as a pioneer of modern police procedure, forensics and a system for maintaining records on known criminals, including detailed physical descriptions, aliases, disguises and methods of operation. On the other hand, he was often accused of instigating or staging the crimes he later took credit for solving.
His influential “Memoirs” were first published in 1828 and became an instant best-seller. Vidocq used ghost-writers, and much of the narrative reads like a picaresque novel of the period. Vidocq maintained that he was a high-spirited lad who fell into bad company at an early age and was framed while in prison for a relatively minor offense. A stiff sentence following the alleged frame-up led to a series of escapes, captures, and imprisonments.
The “Memoir” covers a turbulent period in French history: The 1789 Revolution, The Reign of Terror, the fall of Robespierre and The Committee of Public Safety, The Directory, Napoleon’s coup d’etat (November 9, 1799), and the rise and fall of the First Empire. A period of almost continuous warfare and civil strife.
The narrative is filled with daring escapes, re-captures, mutinies and desertions (Vidocq claimed to have served in more than one army and navy under several assumed identities), duels, sexual escapades, crimes and criminals of all types and descriptions too numerous to mention.
How much is fact, how much fiction? Who knows? What is known is the influence Vidocq had on modern policing and the crime novel. Hugo, Balzac and Dumas pere knew Vidocq; his memoirs provided inspiration for some of their greatest novels and characters including Hugo’s Javert and Jean Valjean and Balzac’s Vautrin. Moreover, Poe’s Dupin (Murders in the Rue Morgue) was modeled on Vidocq, and Conan Doyle referenced the great French detective in his Sherlock Holmes stories.
Caveat: The edition I read (free for kindle) is probably taken from a 19th century translation, and has numerous typos. Moreover, it translates 19th century Parisian underworld slang into 19th century London underworld slang, which might leave many readers either scratching their heads or searching online for a suitable dictionary of period criminal argot.
His influential “Memoirs” were first published in 1828 and became an instant best-seller. Vidocq used ghost-writers, and much of the narrative reads like a picaresque novel of the period. Vidocq maintained that he was a high-spirited lad who fell into bad company at an early age and was framed while in prison for a relatively minor offense. A stiff sentence following the alleged frame-up led to a series of escapes, captures, and imprisonments.
The “Memoir” covers a turbulent period in French history: The 1789 Revolution, The Reign of Terror, the fall of Robespierre and The Committee of Public Safety, The Directory, Napoleon’s coup d’etat (November 9, 1799), and the rise and fall of the First Empire. A period of almost continuous warfare and civil strife.
The narrative is filled with daring escapes, re-captures, mutinies and desertions (Vidocq claimed to have served in more than one army and navy under several assumed identities), duels, sexual escapades, crimes and criminals of all types and descriptions too numerous to mention.
How much is fact, how much fiction? Who knows? What is known is the influence Vidocq had on modern policing and the crime novel. Hugo, Balzac and Dumas pere knew Vidocq; his memoirs provided inspiration for some of their greatest novels and characters including Hugo’s Javert and Jean Valjean and Balzac’s Vautrin. Moreover, Poe’s Dupin (Murders in the Rue Morgue) was modeled on Vidocq, and Conan Doyle referenced the great French detective in his Sherlock Holmes stories.
Caveat: The edition I read (free for kindle) is probably taken from a 19th century translation, and has numerous typos. Moreover, it translates 19th century Parisian underworld slang into 19th century London underworld slang, which might leave many readers either scratching their heads or searching online for a suitable dictionary of period criminal argot.
December 6, 2020
Un livre intéressant qui nous donne un aperçu du début de la vie tumultueuse de Vidocq, de son adolescence au début de sa vie d'adulte.
On y découvre la France des bas-fonds de la révolution et la peur avec laquelle vivaient les pauvres en cette période instable. Dense, ce livre est parfois lassant car très redondant, mais cette lecture nous donne la chance de revivre à la première personne des souvenirs d'une époque dont nous nous faisons peut-être une image utopique.
On y découvre la France des bas-fonds de la révolution et la peur avec laquelle vivaient les pauvres en cette période instable. Dense, ce livre est parfois lassant car très redondant, mais cette lecture nous donne la chance de revivre à la première personne des souvenirs d'une époque dont nous nous faisons peut-être une image utopique.
June 26, 2025
Je l'ai lu pour mon cours - bonne et drôle histoire! Très intéressant d'apprendre l'histoire du système pénale en France avec l'utilisation des criminels eux-mêmes comme "informants".
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews