View source for Georges Courteline

{{Short description|French dramatist and novelist}}
{{expand French|topic=bio|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Georges Courteline circa 1890.jpg|thumb|Georges Courteline (c.1890)]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{French literature sidebar}}
'''Georges Courteline''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɔʁʒ kuʁtəlin}}) born '''Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɔʁʒ viktɔʁ maʁsɛl mwano|}}; 25 June  1858 – 25 June 1929) was a French [[dramatist]] and [[novelist]], a satirist notable for his sharp wit and cynical humor.

==Biography==
His family moved from [[Tours]] in [[Indre-et-Loire]] to Paris shortly after his birth. During the time of the [[Paris Commune]], at age 13, he was sent to school in Meaux and after graduation in 1876, he went on to serve in the French military before taking a job as a civil servant. Interested in poetry and authorship, he became involved in writing poetry reviews and was part of a small newspaper. By the 1890s, he had begun writing plays under the name Courteline for the theatres of [[Montmartre]] where he lived.

Gifted with a quick wit, he became a leading dramatist, producing many plays as well as a number of novels. The overall tone of his works was satirical in nature, often making fun of everything from the wealthy [[elitists]] of Paris to the bloated government [[bureaucracies]]. In 1899, Courteline was awarded the [[Legion of Honour]] and in 1926 was elected to the [[Académie Goncourt]].

In 1929, Courteline died on his 71st birthday in Paris and was interred in the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]. Rue de Lariche, the street in the city of Tours where he was born, was renamed in his honour.

==Selected works==
{{cols}}
* ''Les Gaités de l'escadron'' (1886) - a novel, subsequently dramatized for the theatre in 1895. 
* ''Le 51e Chasseurs'' (1887) – a novel.
* ''Les Femmes d'amis'' (1888) – a novel.
* ''Le Train de 8 heures 47'' (1888) – a novel.
* ''Madelon, Margot et Cie'' (1890). 
* ''Potiron'' (1890) - recit.
* ''Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir'' (1893) – a novel.
* ''Boubouroche'' (1893) – a theatrical play in two acts.
* ''Ah! Jeunesse!'' (1894) – a novel.
* ''Ombres Parisiennes'' (1894) – recits.
* ''La Peur des coups'' (1895) – theatre in one act.
* ''Les Gaitiės de l'escadron'' (1895) - theatre in nine scenes.
* ''La vie de caserne'' (1895) 
* ''Un client sérieux'' (1896) - theatre in one act.
* ''Le Droit aux étrennes'' (1896) - theatre in five scenes.
* ''Hortense, couche-toi!'' (1897) – theatre in one act.
* ''Monsieur Badin'' (1897) – theatre in one act.
* ''L'Extra-Lucide'' (1897)  - theatre in one act.
* ''Une lettre chargée'' (1897) – theatre in one act.
* ''Théodore cherche des allumettes'' (1897) - theatre in one act.
* ''Godefroy'' (1897) - theatre in one act.
* ''La Voiture versée'' (1897) – theatre in one act.
* ''Gros Chagrins'' (1897) – theatre in one act.
* ''Les Boulingrin'' (1898) – theatre in one act.
* ''Le gendarme est sans pitié'' (1899) – theatre in one act.
* ''[[Le commissaire est bon enfant]]'' (1900) – theatre in one act.
* ''L'Article 330'' (1900) - theatre in one act.
* ''Les Marionnettes de la vie'' (1900) 
* ''Sigismond'' (1901) - theatre, a fantasy in one act with choir.
* ''Les Balances'' (1901) – theatre in one act.
* ''La Paix chez soi'' (1903) - theatre in one act.
* ''L'Illustre Piégelé'' (1904). 
* ''L'Ami des Lois'' (1904) - three short plays.
* ''Facéties de Jean de La Butte'' (1904). 
* ''Les tire-au-cul : les gaîtés de l'escadron'' (1904). 
* ''Coco, Coco et Toto'' (1905). 
* ''La Conversion d'Alceste'' (1905) – theatre in verse in one act.
* ''Le Petit Malade'' 1905 
* ''Le père Machin-Chouette : les gaîtés de l'escadron'' (1905) 
* ''Les Fourneaux'' (1905) 
* ''La Cruche'' (1909) - theatre in two acts.
* ''Un visiteur sans gêne'' (1911) 
* ''Les Linottes'' (1912) – a novel.
* ''Le Gora'' (1920)
{{colend}}
[[File:Georges Courteline 1921.jpg|thumb|Courteline in 1921]]

==Filmography==
*''[[The Gaieties of the Squadron]]'', directed by [[Maurice Tourneur]] and Joseph Faivre (1913, based on the play ''Les Gaîtés de l'escadron'')
*''Théodore cherche des allumettes'', directed by [[Andrew Brunelle]] (1923, based on the play ''Théodore cherche des allumettes'')
*''Le Train de 8h47'', directed by [[Georges Pallu]] (1927, based on the novel ''Le Train de 8 heures 47'')
*''[[Fun in the Barracks]]'', directed by [[Maurice Tourneur]] (1932, based on the play ''Les Gaîtés de l'escadron'')
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Boubouroche (1933 film)|fr|3=Boubouroche (film, 1933)|lt=Boubouroche}}'', directed by [[André Hugon]] (1933, based on the play ''Boubouroche'')
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Le Train de 8 heures 47|fr}}'', directed by [[Henry Wulschleger]] (1934, based on the novel ''Le Train de 8 heures 47'')
*''[[The Bureaucrats (1936 film)|The Bureaucrats]]'', directed by [[Yves Mirande]] (1936, based on the novel ''Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir'')
*''[[The Cheerful Squadron]]'', directed by [[Paolo Moffa]] (1954, based on the play ''Les Gaîtés de l'escadron'')<!--24 September 1954-->
*''[[Scènes de ménage]]'', directed by [[André Berthomieu]] (1954, based on the plays ''La Peur des coups'', ''La Paix chez soi'' and ''Les Boulingrin'')<!--10 October 1954-->
*''[[The Bureaucrats (1959 film)|The Bureaucrats]]'', directed by [[Henri Diamant-Berger]] (1959, based on the novel ''Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir'')

==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Georges Courteline}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4778}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courteline, Georges}}
[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Tours, France]]
[[Category:19th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:French journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:French satirical novelists]]
[[Category:French satirical dramatists and playwrights]]