Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...

, travel writer,

pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore inexpensive) booklets intended for wide circulation. Context Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions: to articulate a poli ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the literary and artistic

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

with highly transgressive novels that explored violence, abuse and psychological detachment. His work has been translated into 30

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

Biography

Aesthetic and political struggles

The grandson of Norman notaries and the son of a doctor, Mirbeau spent his childhood in a village in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, Rémalard, pursuing secondary studies at a Jesuit college in

Vannes Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic Era The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who live ...

, which expelled him at the age of fifteen. Two years after the traumatic experience of the 1870 war, he was tempted by a call from the Bonapartist leader Dugué de la Fauconnerie, who hired him as private secretary and introduced him to ''L'Ordre de Paris''. After his debut in journalism in the service of the Bonapartists, and his debut in literature when he worked as a ghostwriter, Mirbeau began to publish under his own name. Thereafter, he wrote in order to express his own ethical principles and

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

values. A supporter of the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

cause (cf. ''La Grève des électeurs'') and fervent supporter of

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...

, Mirbeau embodied the intellectual who involved himself in civic issues. Independent of all parties, Mirbeau believed that one's primary duty was to remain lucid. As an art critic, he campaigned on behalf of the “great gods nearest to his heart”: he sang the praises of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, Félicien Rops

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, Félix Vallotton, and

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist grou ...

, and was an early advocate of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

, Camille Claudel, Aristide Maillol, and

Maurice Utrillo Maurice Utrillo (), born Maurice Valadon; 26 December 1883 – 5 November 1955), was a French painter of the School of Paris who specialized in cityscapes. Born in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous pain ...

(cf. his '' Combats esthétiques'', 1993). As a literary critic and early member of

Académie Goncourt The Société littéraire des Goncourt (Goncourt Literary Society), usually called the Académie Goncourt (Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1900 by the French writer and publisher Edmond de G ...

, he 'discovered' Maurice Maeterlinck and

Marguerite Audoux Marguerite Audoux (July 7, 1863 at Sancoins, Cher – January 31, 1937 at Saint-Raphaël, Var) was a French novelist. Biography Marguerite Donquichote, who took her mother's name, Audoux, in 1895, was orphaned by age three, following the dea ...

and admired Remy de Gourmont,

Marcel Schwob Mayer André Marcel Schwob, known as Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 26 February 1905), was a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories and his literary influence on authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alfonso Reyes, Roberto Bo ...

Léon Bloy Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French ...

Georges Rodenbach Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist. Biography Georges Rodenbach was born in Tournai to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland (Andernach). He was ...

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

Charles-Louis Philippe Charles-Louis Philippe (4 August 1874 – 21 December 1909) French novelist, was born in Cérilly, Allier, Auvergne, on 4 August 1874, and died in Paris on 21 December 1909. Life Son of a village clogmaker, Charles-Louis Philippe rose from ...

, ,

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owne ...

and Léon Werth (cf. his '' Combats littéraires'', 2006).

Mirbeau's novels

Autobiographical novels

Mirbeau ghostwrote ten novels, including three for the Swiss writer Dora Melegari. He made his own literary debut with '' Le Calvaire'' (''Calvary'', 1886), in which writing allowed him to overcome the

trauma Trauma most often refers to: *Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source *Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic inju ...

tic effects of his devastating liaison with the ill-reputed Judith Vinmer (1858-1951), renamed Juliette Roux in the novel. In 1888, Mirbeau published ''L'Abbé Jules'' ('' Abbé Jules''), the first pre-

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

ian novel written under the influence of Dostoyevsky to appear in French literature; the text featured two main characters: l'abbé Jules and Father Pamphile. In ''Sébastien Roch'' (1890) (English translation: '' Sébastien Roch'', 2000), Mirbeau purged the traumatic effects of his experience as a student at a

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

school in

. In the novel, the 13-year-old Sébastien is sexually abused by a priest at the school and the abuse destroys his life.

Crisis of the novel

Mirbeau then underwent a grave existential and literary crisis, yet during this time, he still published in serial form a pre-existentialist novel about the artist's fate, ''

Dans le ciel ''Dans le ciel'' (''In the Sky'') is a novel written by the French journalist, novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau. First published in serialized installments in ''L'Écho de Paris'' between September 1892 and May 1893, ''Dans le ciel'', assembl ...

'' (''In the Sky''), introducing the figure of a painter ( Lucien), directly modeled on

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

. In the aftermath of the

Dreyfus Affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

— which exacerbated Mirbeau's pessimism — he published two novels judged to be scandalous by self-styled paragons of virtue: ''Le Jardin des supplices'' ''( Torture Garden'' (1899) and ''Le Journal d'une femme de chambre'' ('' Diary of a Chambermaid'') (1900), then '' Les Vingt et un Jours d'un neurasthénique'' (The twenty one days of a

neurasthenic Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

person) (1901). In the process of writing these works, Mirbeau unsettled traditional novelistic conventions, exercising

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an Assemblage (art), assemblage of different forms, thus creat ...

techniques, transgressing codes of verisimilitude and fictional credibility, and defying the hypocritical rules of propriety.

Death of the novel

In his last two novels, '' La 628-E8'' (1907) – including '' La Mort de Balzac'' – and ''

Dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient ( basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scienti ...

'' (1913), he strayed ever further from

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

, giving free rein to clinical

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

elements and casting his cat and his own dog as heroes. These last Mirbeau stories show a complete break with the conventions of realist fiction, also signifying a breakdown of reality.

Mirbeau's theatre

In the theatre, Mirbeau made his first steps with a proletarian drama and modern tragedy, '' Les Mauvais bergers'' (''The Bad Shepherds'', 1897). Then he experienced worldwide acclaim with ''Les affaires sont les affaires'' (''

Business is business ''Business is business'' (french: Les affaires sont les affaires) is a French comedy in three acts, by the novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, performed in April 1903 on the stage of Comédie-Française, in Paris, and worldwide acclaimed, esp ...

'', 1903) — his classical

comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a gr ...

and characters in the tradition of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

. Here Mirbeau featured the character of

Isidore Lechat Isidore Lechat is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the play ''Les affaires sont les affaires'' (''Business is business'') (1903) by French writer Octave Mirbeau. A businessman Isidore Lechat, nicknamed "Lechat-Tigre", is a rut ...

, predecessor of the modern master of business intrigue, a product of the new world, a figure who makes money from everything and spreads his tentacles out over the world. In 1908 — at the end of a long legal and media battle — Mirbeau saw his play '' Le Foyer'' (''Home'') performed by the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

. In this work, he broached a new taboo subject, the economic and sexual exploitation of adolescents in a home that pretended to be a charitable one. He also wrote six

one act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in wri ...

s, published under the title of '' Farces et moralités'' (1904), among them being ''L'Épidémie'' (''Epidemics'', 1898). Here, Mirbeau can be seen as anticipating the theatre of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

Marcel Aymé Marcel Aymé (29 March 1902 – 14 October 1967) was a French novelist and playwright, who also wrote screenplays and works for children. Biography Marcel André Aymé was born in Joigny, in the Burgundy region of France, the youngest of si ...

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

, and

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

. He calls language itself into question, demystifying law, ridiculing the discourse of politicians, and making fun of the language of love (''Les Amants'', ''The Lovers'', 1901).

Posthumous fame

Mirbeau has never been forgotten, and there has been no interruption in the publication of his works. Yet his immense literary production has largely been known through only three works, and he was considered as literally and politically incorrect. But, more recently, Mirbeau has been rediscovered and presented in a new light. A fuller appreciation of the role he played in the political, literary, and artistic world of la

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

is emerging.Cf
Société Octave Mirbeau
Mirbeau lies buried in the

Passy Cemetery Passy Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Passy) is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), ...

, in the

16th arrondissement of Paris The 16th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''seizième''. The arrondissement includes part of the Arc de T ...

References

Works

Novels

* '' Le Calvaire'' (1886) (''Calvary'', New York, 1922). * ''L'Abbé Jules'' (1888) ('' Abbé Jules'', Sawtry, Dedalus, 1996). * '' Sébastien Roch'' (1890) (''Sébastien Roch'', Sawtry, Dedalus, 2000). * ''

'' (1892–1893) (''In the Sky''). * '' Le Jardin des supplices'' (1899) (''Torture Garden'', New York, 1931; ''The Garden of Tortures'', London, 1938) . * '' Le Journal d'une femme de chambre'' (1900) (''A Chambermaid's Diary'', New York, 1900 ; ''The Diary of a Lady's Maid'', London, 1903 ; ''Célestine, Being the Diary of a Chambermaid'', New York, 1930 ; ''Diary of a Chambermaid'', New York, 1945). * '' Les Vingt et un Jours d'un neurasthénique'' (1901). * '' Dingo (novel)'' (1913). * ''

Un gentilhomme ''Un gentilhomme'' is a novel by the French novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, published by Flammarion in 1920, after his death. Only three chapters were published. An unachievable novel It was in the mid-1890s that Octave Mirbeau first b ...

'' (1919). * ''

Les Mémoires de mon ami A story by French writer Octave Mirbeau, ''Les Mémoires de mon ami'' was first published serially in ''Le Journal'' between November 27, 1898 and April 30, 1899, in the midst of the Dreyfus Affair. After the author’s death, it was collected in a ...

'' (1920). * ''Œuvre romanesque'', 3 volumes, Buchet/Chastel – Société Octave Mirbeau, 2000–2001, 4 000 pages. Website of Éditions du Boucher, 2003–2004.

Théâtre

* '' Les Mauvais bergers'' (''The Bad Shepherds'') (1897). * ''Les affaires sont les affaires'' (1903) (''

Business Is Business ''Business is business'' (french: Les affaires sont les affaires) is a French comedy in three acts, by the novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, performed in April 1903 on the stage of Comédie-Française, in Paris, and worldwide acclaimed, esp ...

'', New York, 1904). * '' Farces et moralités'', six

morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...

s (1904) (''Scruples'', New York, 1923 ; ''The Epidemic'', Bloomington, 1949 ; ''The Lovers'', translation coming soon). * '' Le Foyer'' (1908) (''Charity''). * ''Dialogues tristes'', Eurédit, 1905.

Short stories

* ''Dans l'antichambre (Histoire d'une Minute)'' (1905). * '' La Mort de Balzac'' (1889). * '' Contes cruels'', 2 volumes (1890 and 1900). * ''Contes drôles'' (1895).
''Mémoire pour un avocat''
(2007).

Art chronicles

* '' Combats esthétiques'', 2 volumes (1893). * ''Premières chroniques esthétiques'' (1895). * '' Combats littéraires'' (1906).

Travelogues

* '' La 628-E8'' (1907) (''Sketches of a journey'', London, 1989).

Political and social chronicles

* '' Voters strike'' (1888) * ''Combats politiques'' (1890). * ''L'Affaire Dreyfus'' (1891). * '' Lettres de l'Inde'' (1891). * ''

L'Amour de la femme vénale ''L'Amour de la femme vénale'' is the French title of a brief essay by French writer Octave Mirbeau on prostitution. Originally published in Bulgarian in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1922 as ''Любовта на продажната жена''. It was ...

'' (1894). * ''Chroniques du Diable'' (1895). * ''Interpellations'' (1911).

Correspondence

* ''Lettres à Alfred Bansard des Bois'' (1989) * ' (1988), ''avec Monet'' (1990), ''avec Pissarro'' (1990), ''avec Jean Grave'' (1994), ''avec Jules Huret'' (2009). * ', 3 volumes already published (2003-2005-2009).

Bibliography

* Reginald Carr, ''Anarchism in France - The Case of Octave Mirbeau'', Manchester University Press, 1977. *

Pierre Michel Pierre Michel (born 11 June 1942), is a professor of literature and a scholar specializing in the French writer Octave Mirbeau. Michel was born in Toulon, the son of the historian Henri Michel. After defending his doctoral dissertation on the wo ...

and Jean-François Nivet, ''Octave Mirbeau, l'imprécateur au cœur fidèle'', Séguier, 1990, 1020 pages. * Pierre Michel
''Les Combats d'Octave Mirbeau''
Annales littéraires de l'université de Besançon, 1995, 386 pages. * Christopher Lloyd, ''Mirbeau's fictions'', Durham, 1996. * Enda McCaffrey, ''Octave Mirbeau’s literary intellectual evolution as a french writer (1880-1914)'', Edwin Mellen Press, 2000, 246 pages. * Pierre Michel
''Lucidité, désespoir et écriture''
Presses de l'Université d'Angers (2001). * Samuel Lair, ''Mirbeau et le mythe de la nature'', Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2004, 361 pages. * Pierre Miche
''Octave Mirbeau et le roman''
Société Octave Mirbeau, 2005, 276 pages. * Pierre Miche
''Bibliographie d'Octave Mirbeau''
Société Octave Mirbeau, 2009, 713 pages. * Pierre Miche
''Albert Camus et Octave Mirbeau''
Société Octave Mirbeau, Angers, 2005, 68 pages. * Pierre Miche
''Jean-Paul Sartre et Octave Mirbeau''
Société Octave Mirbeau, Angers, 2005, 67 pages. * Pierre Michel
''Octave Mirbeau, Henri Barbusse et l'enfer''
51 pages. * Robert Ziegler, ''The Nothing Machine : The Fiction of Octave Mirbeau'', Rodopi, Amsterdam – Kenilworth, September 2007. * Samuel Lair, ''Octave Mirbeau l'iconoclaste'', L'Harmattan, 2008. * Yannick Lemarié -

, ''Dictionnaire Octave Mirbeau'', L'Age d'Homme, 2011, 1,200 p. * Anita Staron, ''L'Art romanesque d'Octave Mirbeau - Thèmes et techniques'', Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego, 2014, 298 p. * '' Cahiers Octave Mirbeau'', n° 1 to n° 21, 1994–2014, 7 700 pages.

External links

* * * *
Website of Société Octave Mirbeau
More than 800 essays about Mirbeau, in twenty-three different languages. *

*
Dictionnaire Octave Mirbeau
' *
Pierre Michel's blog... and Octave Mirbeau's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirbeau, Octave 1848 births 1917 deaths People from Calvados (department) French anarchists Anarchist writers 19th-century French novelists 20th-century French novelists French male essayists French art critics Writers from Normandy Decadent literature French travel writers 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights French satirists French anti–death penalty activists Burials at Passy Cemetery