About
Marcel Schwob (1867-1905) was a French writer associated with Symbolism. He studied philology and Sanskrit at the École pratique des hautes études under Ferdinand de Saussure and Michel Bréal. Author of short story collections such as Cœur double and Le Roi au masque d'or, he is best known for Vies imaginaires, a series of fictional biographies that influenced Jorge Luis Borges. He also translated Shakespeare, Defoe, and Stevenson, and was friends with Oscar Wilde, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Alfred Jarry. Suffering from a chronic intestinal illness, he died of pneumonia at age 37.
* 1867-08-23 — † 1905-02-26
Major works
- Cœur double (1891)short story collection
- Le Roi au masque d'or (1892)short story collection
- Le Livre de Monelle (1894)philosophical tale
- La Croisade des enfants (1895)tale
- Vies imaginaires (1896)fictional biographies
Key milestones
- 1896Publication of Vies imaginaires, his most famous work.
- 1900Marriage to actress Marguerite Moreno.
- 1905Death in Paris at age 37.
Themes
the doubledream and the imaginarydeathchildhoodcruelty
Sources: data.bnf.fr · id.loc.gov