Jean Lorrain
Jean Lorrain: The Scandalous Life of a French Writer
Full Name and Common Aliases
Jean Lorrain was born Paul-Jean Henri Bérenger on January 14, 1855, in Paris, France. He is also known as Paul-Jean Bérenger or simply Lorrain, a pseudonym he adopted early in his writing career.
Birth and Death Dates
Lorrain was born on January 14, 1855, and passed away on March 30, 1906, at the age of 51. His life was marked by turmoil, excess, and creative genius.
Nationality and Profession(s)
Jean Lorrain was a French writer, journalist, and playwright. He is best known for his novels, short stories, and plays that often explored themes of love, morality, and social class in fin-de-siècle Paris.
Early Life and Background
Lorrain's early life was marked by tragedy when he lost his mother at a young age. His father, a civil servant, struggled to provide for the family, leading Lorrain to rely on his own wit and cunning from an early age. He developed a passion for writing and began contributing to various literary magazines while still a teenager.
Major Accomplishments
Lorrain's writing career was marked by numerous accomplishments, including:
Founding of Le Rire: In 1882, Lorrain co-founded the satirical magazine _Le Rire_, which became a sensation in Parisian literary circles.
Publication of novels and plays: Lorrain published several novels and plays that explored themes of love, morality, and social class. His most famous works include "Les Harems" (1897) and "Madame Adèle" (1901).
Influence on French literature: Lorrain's writing had a significant impact on the development of French literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Notable Works or Actions
Some of Lorrain's most notable works include:
Les Harems (1897): A novel that explores the lives of high-society women in Paris, delving into themes of love, morality, and social class.
Madame Adèle (1901): A play that tells the story of a courtesan's life, examining the complexities of her relationships with men and society.Impact and Legacy
Lorrain's impact on French literature is undeniable. His writing style, which blended elements of naturalism and decadence, influenced a generation of writers, including André Gide and Jean Cocteau. His exploration of themes such as love, morality, and social class continues to resonate with readers today.Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Jean Lorrain is widely quoted or remembered for his:
Scandalous life: Lorrain's personal life was marked by excess, scandal, and controversy. His numerous affairs, relationships with men, and struggles with addiction have become the stuff of legend.
Influence on French literature: Lorrain's writing had a significant impact on the development of French literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Enduring themes: Lorrain's exploration of love, morality, and social class continues to resonate with readers today.
Quotes by Jean Lorrain
Jean Lorrain's insights on:
The fancies that take their monstrous birth from the spinelessness and boredom of usurped wealth bring in their wake every defect... and though rich men’s crimes escape the law, protected as they are by the cowardice of governments and people, Nature, more real than society, sets her anarchic example by abandoning the wretched time servers of Capital to the shame and madness of the worst aberrations.
The larvae! The scent of young blood entices and draws them closer. There’s no need to venture into antiquity to evoke the shades of the dead.
In France, it is only permissible to admire statues but tropical countries have no such prejudices, and the emergent Oriental in me took full account of the admirable proportions and the harmony of the movements of the acrobat on the stage.
I laid my head among the black lilies. And the poisonous lilies, flowers of shadow and darkness, opening their funereal blossoms at my brow, taught me unspeakable and virgin dishonor. And sunk, living into the horror of my being, I have savored the strange and delicate happiness of being able to hate myself, because I have been able to know myself.
The larvae! The scent of young blood entices and draws them closer. There's no need to venture into antiquity to evoke the shades of the dead.
Perhaps one suffers in the tomb. There are corpses that have strange grimaces on their faces when they’re disinterred, as if they remember down there all the filth of this life.
The madness of the eyes is the lure of the abyss. Sirens lurk in the dark depths of the pupils as they lurk at the bottom of the sea, that I know for sure - but I have never encountered them, and I am searching still for the profound and plaintive gazes in whose depths I might be able, like Hamlet redeemed, to drown the Ophelia of my desire.