Paul-Jean Toulet

Paul-Jean Toulet was the son of a wealthy sugar planter, originally from Pau, but living in Mauritius. He was most famous for his acerbic humor, his opium addiction, and his friendship with Maurice Sailland – the "prince of gourmets".
As a writer, Tuulet is best known for Les Contrerimes, poems written in verse form of his own invention, the abba rhyme scheme, with alternating long, short, long, short lines. The collection was published posthumously, although many of the poems had appeared in various literary magazines, either in earlier or finished versions (Toulet was an inveterate polisher of his verses).
His novels are almost unreadable today, with the possible exception of My friend Nane, a kind of fin-de-siècle equivalent to Pride and Prejudiceor even Bridget Jones's Diary.
Toilet became a model or an inspiration for the poetic movement. fantasy From 1911 until the Great War. This explains the following comment made about the reception of his works: "When two men who have read Paul-Jean Toulet meet (usually in a bar), they immediately imagine that it is a certain form of aristocracy."
In 1897, Toulet received a copy of it from a friend. The Great God Pan, by Arthur Machen, and translated it the following year, as Le Grand Dieu PanIt was published in La Plume In 1901, but it went unnoticed, except for Maeterlinck's reaction "...combining traditional and scientific fantastic genres, it touches our memories and hopes." Toulet corresponded with Machen and visited him in London.
Toilet's novel, Monsieur de Paur, public man, was inspired by Machen. Published in 1898 by Simonis Empis, it had little success. In 1918, however, it was republished by Éditions du Divan. This publishing house belonged to Toulet's admirer, Henri Martineau, who also maintained a correspondence with the author.
Toulet died in Guéthary, Aquitaine, in September 1920.