SUE, EUGÈNE. - French writer, born in Paris on 20 Jan. 1804, died at Annecy on 3 Aug. 1857.
After several works set in the maritime world, he portrayed, in sensational novelistic forms, the milieu and customs of the Parisian high society of the period (Atar Gull [1831], Plik et Plok [1831], La Salamandre [1832], Latréamont [1837], etc.). Financial ruin and sentimental disappointments soon disgusted him with that society, from which he withdrew to retire to the Sologne, where he continued his literary activity (Mathilde [1841], Les mystères de Paris [1842], etc.).
In his stark representation of the customs and vicissitudes of the less affluent social strata, he almost anticipated realism. In the Mystères there is evident the exaltation of a romantic spirit distorted by a pseudo-mystical social outlook. He also concerned himself with politics, and was the originator of the « serial » genre. His work (85 vols.) is an open apology for free love and vice, an unremitting mockery of the dogmas and figures most cherished by the Catholic religion. omnes fabulae amatoriae are on the Index (decree of 22 Jan. 1852).