Paul Auguste Marie Adam (7 December 1862 – 1 January 1920) was a French novelist who became an early proponent of Symbolism in France, and one of the founders of the Symbolist review Le Symboliste.[1] He was a prominent writer in Montmartre's anarchist movement.[2][3]
Adam's first novel, Chair molle ("Soft Flesh"), was the story of a prostitute in the Naturalist manner, which led to him being prosecuted for immorality before the Cour d'assises and sentenced to a fortnight in prison and a 500-franc fine.[4] Together with Jean Moréas, he co-wrote Les Demoiselles Goubert, a novel that marked the transition to Symbolism in French literature.[5] His Lettres de Malaisie (1897) was speculative fiction about politics in the future.[1] He also wrote a series of historical novels that dealt with the period of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath; the first installment in the series, La Force, was published in 1899. It was followed by L'enfant d'Austerlitz (1901), La ruse (1902) and Au soleil de Juillet (1903).[1] His work was part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics.[6]
He was born and died in Paris.[7]
