HERVIEU

hervieu, paul (1857- ), french dramatist and novelist, was born at neuilly (seine) on the 2nd of november 1857. he was called to the bar in 1877, and, after serving some time in the office of the president of the council, he qualified for the diplomatic service, but resigned on his nomination in 1881 to a secretaryship in the french legation in mexico. he contributed novels, tales and essays to the chief parisian papers and reviews, and published a series of clever novels, including _l'inconnu_ (1887), _flirt_ (1890), _l'exorcisee_ (1891), _peints par eux-memes_ (1893), an ironical study written in the form of letters, and _l'armature_ (1895), dramatized in 1905 by eugene brieux. but his most important work consists of a series of plays: _les paroles restent_ (vaudeville, 17th of november 1892); _les tenailles_ (theatre francais, 28th of september 1895); _la loi de l'homme_ (theatre francais, 15th of february 1897); _la course du flambeau_ (vaudeville, 17th of april 1901); _point de lendemain_ (odeon, 18th of october 1901), a dramatic version of a story by vivaut denon; _l'enigme_ (theatre francais, 5th of november 1901); _theroigne de mericourt_ (theatre sarah bernhardt, 23rd of september 1902); _le dedale_ (theatre francais, 19th of december 1903), and _le reveil_ (theatre francais, 18th of december 1905). these plays are built upon a severely logical method, the mechanism of which is sometimes so evident as to destroy the necessary sense of illusion. the closing words of _la course du flambeau_--"_pour ma fille, j'ai tue ma mere_"--are an example of his selection of a plot representing an extreme theory. the riddle in _l'engime_ (staged at wyndham's theatre, london, march 1st 1902, as _caesar's wife_) is, however, worked out with great art, and _le dedale_, dealing with the obstacles to the remarriage of a divorced woman, is reckoned among the masterpieces of the modern french stage. he was elected to the french academy in 1900. see a. binet, in _l'annee psychologique_, vol. x. hervieu's _theatre_ was published, by lemerre (3 vols., 1900-1904).