Bourget, PAUL, an eminent French novelist, was born at Aniens, September 2, 1852. After a brilliant course at the Lyceum of Clermont-Ferrand, where his father was professor of Mathematics, and the college of Sainte Barbe, he graduated with the highest honours in 1872. His early distinctions pointed to an academical career, but the spell of literature proved too strong. He began to write in 1873, but it was ten years ere he found his true work, though he contributed the while numerous articles to the magazines, and published as many as three volumes of striking verse: La Vie Inquiète (1875), Édel (1878), and Les Aveux (1881). His Essais (1883) was the first indication of his strength. The second series, Nouveaux Essais de Psychologie contemporaine (1886), was a singularly subtle and searching inquiry into the causes of pessimism in contemporary France. Bourget's first novel, L'Irréparable (1884), was followed by Cruelle Énigme (1885), Un Crime d'Amour (1886), André Cornelis (1887), and Mensonges (1887). The keen insight into the hidden springs of human motive, and the marvellous subtlety of psychological analysis in these stories, together with their clearness and refinement of style, have lifted Bourget into the front rank of contemporary French novelists. His intimate knowledge of English and
Italian life, and his travels in Spain and Morocco, gave him the materials for Sensations d'Italie (1891) and Cosmopolis (1892); and he recorded his impressions (1894) of travel in the United States. Other novels are Le Disciple, Notre Cœur, La Terre Promise, and Un Saint. Their author was admitted to the Académie in 1894.