French · 1864–1910
French author of Poil de Carotte and a journal kept with pitiless precision. Born in rural France to an unhappy family, he became a Parisian writer and diarist. Poil de Carotte drew on his loveless childhood; the Journal (1887-1910) observed Parisian literary life with cold wit. He was mayor of his hometown, a member of the Académie Goncourt, and dead at forty-six. His prose is epigrammatic, exact, merciless to himself and others. The Journal remains essential for its time and its style.