Erckmann-Chatrian was the pseudonym chosen by two French authors born in Meurthe (Moselle, since 1918), in the Lorraine region, and which they would use working together for most of their famous and successful, though not from the beginning, career literary.
Together they outlined the plots of their stories, however, it was Émile Erckmann who was in charge of shaping them by writing them. For his part, Alexandre Chatrian acted as proofreader and literary agent, placing the originals and then negotiating the conditions with the publishers.
Called the Siamese brothers, due to the dependence that both acquired derived from the popularity with which their stories were welcomed, they began their adventure in 1847, the year in which a friendship would begin that would only fall apart towards the end of their lives.
Émile Erckmann (Phalsbourg, 1822 - Lunéville, 1899) and Charles Louis Gratien Alexandre Chatrian (Soldatenthal, 1826 - Villemomble, 1890), names of the authors who took refuge under the alias of Erckmann-Chatrian, met in the summer of 1847, in Phalsbourg.