GIRAUDOUX, HIPPOLYTE JEAN (1882- ), French author and diplomatist, was born on Oct. 29, 1882 at Bellac (Haute Vienne) and educated at the Ecole Normale in Paris. He became head of the press service in the French foreign office, and afterwards secured an appointment in the diplomatic service. He wrote a series of novels in which he showed extraordinary origin ality and wit. Although the influence of Andre Gide is apparent, the style is unmistakably Giraudoux's own, and has undoubtedly influenced contemporary writers. Rene Lalou has described his method as being in literature what impressionism is in painting. The most important of his works are, Simon le Pathetique (1918), partly autobiographical in character; L'Admirable Clio (192o) one of the lightest and yet the most profound of war studies; Suzanne et le Pacifique (1921); Siegfried et le Limousin (1922), in which the hero, a French poet, becomes a prisoner of war in Germany, loses his memory, rises to a high political position, and then has to decide whether he shall return to France and learn to be a Frenchman once more; Bella (19 26) in which the princi pal personages (and, it may be said, the two great conflicting tendencies) in Paris political life are described; and Juliette aux pays des hommes (1924). His collection of short stories, Prov inciales provides a good example of his impressionist methods. Siegfried et le Limousin was dramatized by Jouvet, and produced at the Champs Elysees, Paris, in June 1928.