LOUYS

louys, pierre (1870- ), french novelist and poet, was born in paris on the 10th of december 1870. when he was nineteen he founded a review, _la conque_, which brought him into contact with the leaders of the parnassians, and counted swinburne, maeterlinck, mallarme and others among its contributors. he won notoriety by his novel _aphrodite_ (1896), which gave a vivid picture of alexandrian morals at the beginning of the christian era. his _chansons de bilitis, roman lyrique_ (1894), which purported to be a translation from the greek, is a glorification of sapphic love, which in subject-matter is objectionable in the highest degree; but its delicate decadent prose is typical of a modern french literary school, and some of the "songs" were set to music by debussy and others. later books are: _la femme et le pantin_ (1898); _les aventures du roi pausole_ (1900); _sanguines_ (1903); _archipel_ (1906). louys married in 1899 louise de heredia, younger daughter of the poet.