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Pierre Louÿs

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Poet

The Resume

    (December 10, 1870-June 4, 1925)
    Born in Ghent, Belgium
    Birth name was Pierre Felix Louis
    French erotic writer
    Wrote the poetry collection 'Les Chansons de Bilitis' (1894) and the novels 'Aphrodite: Ancient Manners' (1896) and 'The Woman and the Puppet' (1898)

Why he might be annoying:

    He changed the 'i' in his last name to a 'ÿ' to emphasize his love of classic Greek literature. (In France, 'ÿ' was called a 'Greek I.')
    His second wife, Aline Steenackers, was the half-sister of Claudine Roland, his favorite mistress during his first marriage.
    He originally presented 'Les Chansons de Bilitis' as the work of a courtesan/poet (and contemporary of Sappho) named Bilitis, and took credit only for translating the poems.
    Apparently feeling that French literature needed an equivalent of the 'Shakespeare authorship question,' he wrote articles claiming that Moliere's plays had actually been written by Pierre Corneille.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He campaigned for Oscar Wilde's release from jail.
    Wilde dedicated the original edition of 'Salome' to him.
    Claude Debussy set three of his poems to music.
    He was named an officer of the Legion of Honor for services to literature (1922).
    The first lesbian political rights group in the US, the Daughters of Bilitis, named themselves after his fake poet. (Founders Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon noted that the name also provided some cover: 'If anyone asked, we could always say we belong to a poetry club.')

Credit: C. Fishel


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 18 Votes: 11.11% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying