1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Curel, François, Vicomte de

CUREL, FRANÇOIS, Vicomte de (1854–  ), French dramatist, was born at Metz on the 10th of June 1854. He was educated at the École Centrale as a civil engineer, the family wealth being derived from smelting works. He began his literary career with two novels, L’Été des fruits secs (1885) and Le Sauvetage du grand duc (1889). In 1891 three pieces were accepted by the Théâtre Libre. The list of his plays includes L’Envers d’une sainte (1892); Les Fossiles (1892), a picture of the prejudices of the provincial nobility; L’Invitée (1893), the story of a mother who returns to her children after twenty years’ separation; L’Amour brode (1893), which was withdrawn by the author from the Théâtre Français after the second representation; La Figurante (1896); Le Repas du lion (1898), dealing with the relations between capital and labour; La Fille sauvage (1902), the history of the development of the religious idea; La Nouvelle Idole (1899), dealing with the worship of science; and Le Coup d’aile (1906).

See also Contemporary Review for August 1903.