Henri de Bornier

Henri de Bornier (1825 - 1901)

Poet, novelist, playwright and theater critic, the immortal pescalune, member of the Académie française, is buried today in Lunel's St-Gérard cemetery.

Born in Lunel on December 25, 1825, Étienne Charles Henri, vicomte de Bornier came from a family originally from Aimargues, where the Bornier family farmhouse is located.

After classical studies in the south of France, he came to Paris to study law. At the age of 20, he published a volume of poetry, Premières feuilles, and two years later joined the Arsenal library as a supernumerary, where he was successively sub-librarian, librarian, curator and, in 1889, administrator. He was drama critic for the Nouvelle Revue between 1879 and 1887, and was elected to the Académie française against Emile Zola in 1893.

His play "La Fille de Roland", which ran for three months at the Comédie Française, was a huge success. A line from it has remained: "Every man has two countries, his own and France.

He left behind many plays, novels and poems.

His bust now stands in Lunel's Parc Jean Hugo. He is buried in the St-Gérard cemetery.