BERNARD, TRISTAN ), French dramatist and novelist, was born in Besancon on Sept. 17, 1866. Before he began to write plays he published stories, sketches, etc., in the Revue Blanche and in various short-lived periodicals on which his writings conferred temporary popularity. His first dramatic writ ings were one-act comedies; Le Fardeau de la Liberte (1897), Le seal Bandit du Village (1898), L'Anglais tel qu'on le parle (1899), Daisy (1902), etc., which owe their value to a unique mixture of broad, vaudeville comedy and mocking humour. His dramatic production, which was abundant, must be divided into two classes; it includes amusing vaudevilles such as Le Danseur Inconnu 0907), Le Petit Cafe (1911) and Les Deux Canards (1913), and satires of a more ambitious character, in which mordant irony and relentless observation not only of the absurdities of the bourgeoisie, but human weakness in all its forms, is expressed in classic and close-knit dialogue. The most remarkable examples of the second class are Monsieur Codomat 0907), Le Prince Char mant (1914) and La Volonte de l'Homme (1917). Triplepatte, one of his most successful plays, occupies an intermediate place between the two series. Since the war Tristan Bernard has mainly written vaudevilles. Mention must not be omitted of his two novels, Les Memoires d'un Jeune Homme Range (1899) and its sequel Le Mari Pacifique (1901) . The mediocrity and weakness of will of the present generation have perhaps never been more mercilessly analysed.