Georges Courteline (French pronunciation: [ʒɔʁʒ kuʁtəlin]) born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux ([ʒɔʁʒ viktɔʁ maʁsɛl mwano]; 25 June 1858 – 25 June 1929) was a French dramatist and novelist, a satirist notable for his sharp wit and cynical humor.
His family moved from Tours in Indre-et-Loire to Paris shortly after his birth. During the time of the Paris Commune, at age 13, he was sent to school in Meaux and after graduation in 1876, he went on to serve in the French military before taking a job as a civil servant. Interested in poetry and authorship, he became involved in writing poetry reviews and was part of a small newspaper. By the 1890s, he had begun writing plays under the name Courteline for the theatres of Montmartre where he lived.
Gifted with a quick wit, he became a leading dramatist, producing many plays as well as a number of novels. The overall tone of his works was satirical in nature, often making fun of everything from the wealthy elitists of Paris to the bloated government bureaucracies. In 1899, Courteline was awarded the Legion of Honour and in 1926 was elected to the Académie Goncourt.
In 1929, Courteline died on his 71st birthday in Paris and was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Rue de Lariche, the street in the city of Tours where he was born, was renamed in his honour.
The Gaieties of the Squadron, directed by Maurice Tourneur and Joseph Faivre (1913, based on the play Les Gaîtés de l'escadron)
Théodore cherche des allumettes, directed by Andrew Brunelle (1923, based on the play Théodore cherche des allumettes)
Le Train de 8h47, directed by Georges Pallu (1927, based on the novel Le Train de 8 heures 47)
Fun in the Barracks, directed by Maurice Tourneur (1932, based on the play Les Gaîtés de l'escadron)
Boubouroche, directed by André Hugon (1933, based on the play Boubouroche)
Le Train de 8 heures 47, directed by Henry Wulschleger (1934, based on the novel Le Train de 8 heures 47)
The Bureaucrats, directed by Yves Mirande (1936, based on the novel Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir)
The Cheerful Squadron, directed by Paolo Moffa (1954, based on the play Les Gaîtés de l'escadron)
Scènes de ménage, directed by André Berthomieu (1954, based on the plays La Peur des coups, La Paix chez soi and Les Boulingrin)
The Bureaucrats, directed by Henri Diamant-Berger (1959, based on the novel Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir)
Works by or about Georges Courteline at the Internet Archive
Works by Georges Courteline at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)