[1] Petrus Borel was born in Lyon on 26 June 1809, the twelfth of fourteen children of an ironmonger.

Nicknamed le Lycanthrope ("Wolfman") and the centre of the circle of Bohemians in Paris,[1] Borel was noted for his extravagant and eccentric style of writing, foreshadowing Surrealism.

[2] Petrus Borel was not commercially successful and was eventually directed to a minor civil service post by his friend Théophile Gautier.

[3] Borel is considered to be one of the poète maudits, like Aloysius Bertrand or Alice de Chambrier, and is said to have influenced Baudelaire and Breton.

[citation needed] In 1959 Tom Moran translated Borel's 1833 Champavert: Contes Immoraux (Seven Bitter Tales) via Theo.