Léon Hennique was born in
Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, the son of the naval infantry officer
Agathon Hennique. He studied painting, but after the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870 devoted himself to literature and became a naturalistic novelist and dramatist. He was a friend of
Émile Zola, but broke with him over the
Dreyfus Affair.
Guy de Maupassant has dedicated the novel, "
La Rempailleuse", to him. As a fellow testamentary and legatee with
Alphonse Daudet and
Edmond de Goncourt, he helped found the
Académie Goncourt. He served as its president from 1907 to 1912. He contributed to
Les Soirées de Médan (1880), with his L'Affaire du Grand 7. He was appointed as a knight of the
Legion of Honor in 1895. He was later promoted as an officer in 1908, then a commander in 1932. With each promotion he received, he was decorated by a member of the
Académie Goncourt:
Alphonse Daudet on January 27, 1985, then
Gustave Geoffroy on February 5, 1908, and finally
Pol Neveux on March 7, 1932. His daughter was the
symbolist poet
Nicolette Hennique. ==Works==