MURGER, Henri, on-re miir-zhar, French poet and novelist: b. Paris, 24 March 1822; d. there, 28 Jan. 1861. He entered a lawyer's office, but left it and was for a time secretary to the Russian Count Tolstoi. Of his career in 1838-48 almost nothing is known. He was a member of an informal club or clique of un conventional and impecunious young artists and authors, which was named °Bohemia° and the associates °Bohemians"— a name famous in general literary history. He contributed a great mass of °copy° to numerous periodicals, and at last made a reputation by his 'Scenes de la vie de boheme) in which he appears as Rodolphe (1848). This was dramatized in 1849, in collaboration with Theodore Barriere, and served as the basis of Puccini's opera, 'La Boheme) (1898). He then found sufficient to do, wrote dramas for the Luxembourg Theatre and articles for the Revue des Deux Movies.
Other works are 'Scenes de la vie de jeunesse' (1851); 'Le Pays Latin) (1852); 'Le dernier rendezvous' (1852) ; and 'Les buveurs d'eau' (1854). Many of his lyrics are very beautiful and have been translated by Andrew Lang in 'Ballads and Lyrics of Old France' (London 1872), and his prose works, especially his mas terpiece, are characterized by rare humor and pathos. His general influence, however, was unhealthy, and he personally sank into the depths of dissipation and died in a charity hos pital. When a monument was lately erected to his memory there was a considerable amount of protest. Consult the appreciation in Saints bury's 'Essays on French Novelists' (1891) and that by his fellow Bohemians in 'Les nuits Oliver' (Paris 1862). See BOHEME, LA.