Editing Maurice Maeterlinck (section)

===Career===
[[File:Maurice de Maeterlinck.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Maeterlinck early in his career]]
Maeterlinck instantly became a public figure when his first play, ''[[Princess Maleine]]'', received enthusiastic praise from [[Octave Mirbeau]], the literary critic of ''[[Le Figaro]]'', in August 1890. In the following years he wrote a series of [[Symbolism (arts)#Theatre|symbolist plays]] characterized by [[fatalism]] and [[mysticism]], most importantly ''[[Intruder (play)|Intruder]]'' (1890), ''[[The Blind (play)|The Blind]]'' (1890) and ''[[Pelléas and Mélisande]]'' (1892).

He had a relationship with the singer and actress [[Georgette Leblanc]] from 1895 until 1918. Leblanc influenced his work for the following two decades. With the play ''Aglavaine and Sélysette'' (1896) Maeterlinck began to create characters, especially female characters, who were more in control of their destinies. Leblanc performed these female characters on stage. Even though mysticism and metaphysics influenced his work throughout his career, Maeterlinck slowly replaced his Symbolism with a more existential style.<ref name="Knapp, 87-92">Knapp, pp. 87–92.</ref>

In 1895, with his parents frowning upon his open relationship with an actress, Maeterlinck and Leblanc moved to the district of [[Passy]] in Paris. The Catholic Church was unwilling to grant her a divorce from her Spanish husband. The couple frequently entertained guests, including Mirbeau, [[Jean Lorrain]], and [[Paul Fort]]. They spent their summers in [[Normandy]]. During this period, Maeterlinck published his ''Twelve Songs'' (1896), ''[[The Treasure of the Humble]]'' (1896), ''The Life of the Bee'' (1901), and ''Ariadne and Bluebeard'' (1902).<ref name="Knapp, 87-92"/>
[[Image:1902MarbledTheLifeOfTheBeeByMaeterlinck.jpg|thumb|150px|A 1902 [[paper marbling|marbled]] edition of ''The Life of the Bee'', [[Dodd, Mead and Company]], Pub.]]

In 1903, Maeterlinck received the Triennial Prize for Dramatic Literature from the Belgian government.<ref>Knapp, p. 111.</ref> During this period, and up until the Great War of 1914–1918, he was widely looked up to, throughout Europe, as a great sage, and the embodiment of the [[higher thought]] of the time.

In 1906, Maeterlinck and Leblanc moved to a villa in [[Grasse]] in the south of France. He spent his hours meditating and walking. As he emotionally pulled away from Leblanc, he entered a state of depression. Diagnosed with [[neurasthenia]], he rented the [[Abbey of Saint Wandrille|Benedictine Abbey of St. Wandrille]] in Normandy to help him relax. By renting the abbey he rescued it from the desecration of being sold and used as a chemical factory and thus he received a blessing from the Pope.<ref>{{cite news |title= The Banning of Bergson |url=https://archive.org/stream/independen79v80newy#page/n77/mode/1up |newspaper= The Independent |date= 20 July 1914 |access-date= 21 August 2012}}</ref> Leblanc would often walk around in the garb of an abbess; he would wear roller skates as he moved about the house.<ref>Knapp, 129.</ref> During this time, he wrote his essay "The Intelligence of Flowers" (1906), in which he expressed sympathy with socialist ideas. He donated money to many workers' unions and socialist groups. At this time he conceived his greatest contemporary success: the fairy play [[The Blue Bird (play)|''The Blue Bird'']] (1908, but largely written in 1906).

Stanislavsky's 1908 Moscow production, of extraordinary visual beauty, is still over a century later regularly performed in Moscow, in a shortened version as a children's matinee. After the writing of "The Intelligence of Flowers", he suffered from a period of depression and writer's block. Although he recovered from this after a year or two, he never became so inventive as a writer again. His later plays, such as ''Marie-Victoire'' (1907) and [[Mary Magdalene (1910 play)|''Mary Magdalene'']] (1910), provided with lead roles for Leblanc,<ref>Knapp, pp. 127–28.</ref> were notably inferior to their predecessors, and sometimes merely repeat an earlier formula. Even though alfresco performances of some of his plays at St. Wandrille had been successful, Maeterlinck felt that he was losing his privacy. The death of his mother on 11 June 1910 added to his depression.<ref>Knapp, pp. 133–34.</ref>

In 1910 he met the 18-year-old actress [[Renée Dahon]] during a rehearsal of ''The Blue Bird''. She became his companion. After having been nominated by [[Carl Bildt (1850-1931)|Carl Bildt]], a member of the [[Swedish Academy]], he received the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 1911,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=2143.|title= The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org|website=NobelPrize.org|date= April 2020}}</ref> which served to lighten his spirits. By 1913, he had become more openly socialist and sided with the Belgian trade unions against the Catholic party during a strike.<ref>Knapp, 133–36.</ref> He began to study mysticism and lambasted the Catholic Church in his essays for misconstruing the history of the universe.<ref>Knapp, pp. 136–38.</ref> By a decree of 26 January 1914, the [[Roman Catholic Church]] placed his ''opera omnia'' on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]].

When [[German invasion of Belgium (1914)|Germany invaded Belgium]] in 1914, Maeterlinck wished to join the [[French Foreign Legion]], but his application was denied due to his age.{{cn|date=April 2025}} He and Leblanc decided to leave Grasse for a villa near [[Nice]], where he spent the next decade of his life. He gave speeches on the bravery of the Belgian people and placed the blame upon all Germans for the war.{{cn|date=April 2025}} His reputation as a great sage who stood above current affairs was damaged by his political involvement.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

While in Nice, he wrote ''The Mayor of Stilmonde'' (1918), which the American press quickly labeled a "Great War Play", and which became [[The Burgomaster of Stilemonde|a British film]] in 1929. He also wrote ''The Betrothal'' ({{langx |fr| Les Fiançailles}}, 1922), a sequel to ''The Blue Bird'', in which the heroine of the play is clearly not a Leblanc archetype.<ref>Knapp, 147–50.</ref>
[[File:Maurice Maeterlinck's Portrait.jpg|thumb|Maeterlinck in 1915]]
On 15 February 1919, Maeterlinck married Dahon. He accepted an invitation to the United States, where [[Samuel Goldwyn]] asked him to produce a few scenarios for film. Only two of Maeterlinck's submissions still exist; Goldwyn didn't use any of them. Maeterlinck had prepared one based on his ''The Life of the Bee''. After reading the first few pages Goldwyn burst out of his office, exclaiming: "My God! The hero is a bee!"{{cn|date=April 2025}}

After 1920, Maeterlinck ceased to contribute significantly to the theatre, but continued to produce essays on his favourite themes of occultism, ethics and natural history. The international demand for these fell off sharply after the early 1920s, but his sales in France remained substantial until the late 1930s. Dahon gave birth to a stillborn child in 1925.{{cn|date=April 2025}}