CROWNED BY THE FRENCH ACADEMY Charles de Bernard was crowned one of the "Immortals" of the French Academy. Born in 1804, de Bernard was from an old, aristocratic French family. Originally intending to be a lawyer, de Bernard was attracted to the literary society of Paris through his friendship with Honoré de Balzac, whose work he had read and admired. Eventually moving to Paris, he also emulated his friend"s authorship and became a novelist. His style was often praised during his lifetime. Gerfaut, first published in 1838, is considered his masterpiece. Although Henry James thought to criticize de Bernard in his essay on French novelists, Gerfaut will reward readers today as much as it did when it was first-written.