Scenes of Bohemian Life (1851) is a novel by Henri Murger. Written at the beginning of his career as a popular French poet and novelist, Scenes of Bohemian Life is composed of vignettes inspired by the author’s experience as a starving artist in Paris’ Latin Quarter. Adapted countless times for theater and film, Murger’s novel served as inspiration for Puccini’s opera La bohème (1896) and for the hit musical Rent (1996). “The Bohemians know everything and go everywhere, according as they have patent leather pumps or burst boots. They are to be met one day leaning against the mantel-shelf in a fashionable drawing room, and the next seated in the arbor of some suburban dancing place. They cannot take ten steps on the Boulevard without meeting a friend, and thirty, no matter where, without encountering a creditor.” Distinguished by their sense of fashion and impoverished lifestyle, Paris’ Bohemians are part of a historical avant-garde, a cultural phenomenon found in any artistic society. Living day to day, these artists and radicals commune with the world as it is, taking nothing and no one for granted. In Scenes of Bohemian Life, four friends―Rodolphe, Marcel, Colline, and Schaunard―avoid landlords and old lovers on the streets of the Latin Quarter, a district known for its countercultural figures. Hilarious and preeminently human, Scenes of Bohemian Life is a masterpiece of nineteenth century fiction from a writer whose lifestyle informed much of his work. This edition of Henri Burger’s Scenes of Bohemian Life is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
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Henri Murger (1822-1861) was a French novelist and poet. Born in Paris to a working-class family, Murger left school at 15 to find work in a lawyer’s office, writing poems and essays on the side. Discovered by prominent dramatist Étienne de Jouy, Murger gained a reputation as a leading young voice in French literature. Encouraged by Realist critic Champfleury to focus on fiction, Murger found success with Scenes of Bohemian Life (1851), an experimental novel based on his experience as an impoverished Parisian artist. He continued to publish his writing until his death at 38, brought on by recurring health problems exacerbated by a life in poverty. Scenes of Bohemian Life would inspire Puccini’s beloved opera La bohème (1896), itself source material for countless films, songs, and musicals.
