Henri Murger

Bohemians of the Latin Quarter (Dodo Press) Henri Murger

Louis-Henri Murger, also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger (1822-1861) was a French novelist and poet. His literary career began about 1841. His first essays were mainly literary and poetic, but under the pressure of earning a living he wrote whatever he could find a market for, turning out prose as he put it, "at the rate of eighty francs an acre". At one point he edited a fashion newspaper, Le Moniteur de la Mode, and a paper for the millinery trade, Le Castor. He is chiefly distinguished as the author of Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, from his own experiences as a desperately poor writer living in a Parisian attic, and member of a loose club of friends who called themselves "the water drinkers". He wrote lyrics as well as novels and stories, the chief being La Chanson de Musette, "a tear, " says Gautier, "which has become a pearl of poetry".