Louÿs, Pierre

Pierre Félix Louÿs was a French poet and novelist. He was born to a wealthy family in Ghent, Belgium, in somewhat unclear circumstances. His natural father may have been an older half-brother, a senior civil servant in Paris who took care of the nine-year-old Pierre at the death of his mother in 1879. As an adult, Louÿs was to perpetuate the mystery of fatherhood.