Henri Murger

Henri Murger was the French writer whose sketches of poor young artists in the Latin Quarter fixed the image of the Parisian bohemian. The son of a concierge and tailor, he was secretary to Alexei Tolstoy and shared the poverty of the painters and poets around him, several of whom became his characters. The Scènes de la vie de bohème made his name, and a stage version followed in 1849. He was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1858 and died at 38. Puccini and Leoncavallo set the book a year apart, Puccini perhaps spurred by Leoncavallo's plans.