Gabrielle Soumet (after marriage, Gabrielle d'Altenheim; pen name, G.S.; March 17, 1814 – May 16, 1886)[1] was a French dramatist, poet, and feminist writer.
Gabrielle Soumet was born on March 17, 1814, in Paris.[2] Her father was Alexandre Soumet, a poet and playwright well known in the 19th century. She showed a great inclination for poetry from an early age.
In 1834, she married Beuvain d'Altenheim,[3] who was born in Altenheim.
In 1838, she wrote Les nouvelles succursales (Nouvelles subsidiaries), which she had almost all written as a young girl, and which she signed Gabrielle d'Altenheim, the name by which she is exclusively known.
On April 24, 1841, she had the Gladiateur : tragédie en 5 actes (Gladiator : tragedy in 5 acts) performed at the Comédie-Française; it was written by her in collaboration with her father. It was performed the same evening as Le Chêne du Roi (The King's Oak), a historical comedy in one act by the latter. These two plays had the same critical success and were printed under the title: Une soirée au théâtre français (An evening at the French theater). In 1844, she wrote Jane Grey: tragédie en cinq actes et en vers (Jane Grey, a tragedy in five acts and in verse) with her father which was presented at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe on March 5, 1844.[4] Subsequently, she mainly wrote collections of poems. After 1844, Soumet wrote nothing more for the theatre.
She published a certain number of works among which are included: "Berthe Bertha", poem, 1843; Récits de l'histoire d'Angleterre depuis Jules-César jusqu'à nos jours première (Stories of the history of England from Julius Caesar to the present day), first edition 1856, 4th, 1879; Récits de l'histoire de Rome payenne (Stories of the history of pagan Rome), 1856; les Marguerites de France (The Marguerites of France), 1858; les Deux frères (The Two Brothers), 1858; les Quatre siècles littéraires (The Four Literary Centuries), 1859, 4th ed. 1869; and Anecdotes édifiantes (Edifying Anecdotes), 1875. She kept in her portfolio, in addition to several pieces by her father and herself, a translation into verse of Nuits d'Young (Young's Nights), and a study on the Jacquerie.
Committed to the feminist newspaper La voix des femmes, she signed with the initials "G.S.", which drew criticism for wanting to usurp George Sand's fame.[5] She was a member of the Women's Club created by Eugénie Niboyet.