Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) had a difficult youth before achieving public success with his early work "Letters from My Mill" in 1866. The author, who cannot be categorized as belonging to Impressionism, Realism, or Naturalism, was friends with Edmond de Goncourt, Flaubert, and Zola, and wrote numerous short stories and plays, including the adaptation for Bizet's "L'Arlésienne." The humorous novel "Tartarin of Tarascon," published in 1872, which the author followed with two sequels, remains Daudet's most famous work to this day. The story centers around the boastful retiree Tartarin, described by the author as a mix of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, who experiences both incredible and ridiculous adventures on a journey to Africa.