The life of Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917), perhaps now best remembered for his Diary of a Chambermaid, spanned some of the most vibrant years in the cultural and political history of France. The assassination of President Carnot in the mid-1890s brought the anarchist movement dramatically to the forefront of public awareness, but in fact its roots went back to the 1860s, from which time propagandists of the movement had received considerable attention and sympathy from many intellectuals. One such sympathiser, Mirbeau became the leading literary advocate of the French anarchist movement, his writings often only thinly disguised anarchist philosophy. Believing that Mirbeau's popularity can only be fully appreciated in the context of the politics and culture of the Belle Epoque, Reg Carr provides not only a much needed biography and literary analysis, but also reveals the full extent to which his commitment to the anarchist cause influenced and is a key to Mirbeau's work. His relationship with the revolutionary propagandist Jean Grave is studied in detail; light is cast on the Dreyfus Affair and the First World War, on Emile Zola-who was, with Mallarmé and Edmond de Goncourt, a close friend of Mirbeau-and on other leading literary figures with whom he associated during his turbulent and often controversial career.