Paul-Jean Toulet

Paul-Jean Toulet (5 June 1867, Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques - 6 September 1920) was a French poet, novelist and feuilleton writer.

The collection was published posthumously, although many of the poems appeared in various literary magazines, either in earlier versions or finished forms (Toulet was an inveterate polisher of his verse).

His novels are almost unread today, with the possible exception of Mon amie Nane, a sort of fin-de-siècle equivalent to Pride and Prejudice, or even Bridget Jones' Diary.

This explains the following comment made on the reception of his works: "When two men who have read Paul-Jean Toulet meet (usually in a bar), they immediately imagine it's a certain form of aristocracy".

It was published in La Plume in 1901 but went unnoticed except for Maeterlinck's reaction "...combining the traditional and scientific fantastic genres, it hits both our memories and hopes".