Paul-Auguste Arène

Arène, Paul (1843–96), French drama critic, author, and collaborator of Alphonse Daudet. Arène's many short stories reflect the provincial charm of southern France. He wrote several fairy tales, including ‘Les Ogresses’ (‘The Ogresses’, 1891) and ‘La Chèvre d'or’ (‘The Golden‐Fleeced Goat’, 1889), one of his best‐known works. Here a conventional romance overlay the local legend of a magical goat who guards a fabulous treasure. The hero ultimately renounces the treasure for the love of the pretty young goatherd.

— Adrienne E. Zuerner

Arène, Paul-Auguste (1843-96). Provençal playwright, novelist, journalist, and poet; friend of Aubanel, Mistral, and Roumanille; collaborator of Alphonse Daudet. Following the success in Paris of his one-act comedy Pierrot héritier (1865), Arène left university and became an ever-struggling, full-time writer, known for agreeable tales and short stories set in Provence and displaying ironic wit and realistic detail, e.g. Jean des Figues (1868), La Gueuse parfumée (1876), Contes de Paris et de Provence (1887), La Chèvre d'or (1889). Other works include a dozen plays and charming French and Provençal verse, some published posthumously in the anthology Li Souleiado (1904).

[Peter Davies]