'Georges de Porto-Riche' (born
May 20,
1849 in
Bordeaux,
France; died
September 5,
1930 in
Paris) was a French
dramatist and
novelist.
At the age of twenty, his pieces in verse began to be produced at the Parisian theatres; he also wrote some books of verse which met with a favorable reception, but these early works were not reprinted. In Germaine, the passionate and exacting heroine of ''Amoureuse'',
Mme Réjane found one of her best parts.
In 1898 he published ''Théâtre d'amour'', which contained four of his most celebrated pieces; ''La Chance de Françoise'', ''L'Infidèle'', ''Amoureuse'', and ''Le Passé''. The title given to this collection indicates the difference between the plays of Porto-Riche, which focus on human emotion and psychological drama, and the political or sociological pieces of many of his contemporaries. Even in ''Les Malefilâtres'' (Odéon, 1904), whose characters are drawn from the working class, love remains the central focus.
He was elected to the 6th seat of the
Académie française in
1923. However, he was never officially received to the Académie, because the reading committee found the
eulogy he wrote for his predecessor unsatisfactory, and he refused to rewrite it. Porto-Riche was also named a Grand officier in the
Légion d'honneur.
References
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