The plays and novels of the French author and diplomat Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) are marked by the use of myth, fantasy, and an original, somewhat precious style.

Jean Giraudoux was born on Oct. 29, 1882, in the little town of Bellac in the Limousin, the second son of a provincial employee of the highway department and a gentle, reserved mother whose letters show a natural gift for writing. Although the family moved to Pellevoisin when Jean was only 7, Bellac remained for him the symbol of a certain ideal way of life. Several of his most appealing characters are also natives of Bellac, for example, l'Apollon de Bellac and Suzanne.

In 1893 Giraudoux received a scholarship at the Iycée of Châteauroux, where he was an excellent pupil for 7 years. His partly autobiographical novel Simon le pathétique (1926) and memories of his classmates give a picture of a...