Pétrus Borel was a French poet and writer of the Romantic movement and a translator. Born Joseph-Pierre Borel dHauterive at Lyon, the 12 of 14 children of an ironmonger, including his brother André Borel d'Hauterive. He studied architecture in Paris but abandoned it for literature. Nicknamed le Lycanthrope ("wolfman"), and the center of the circle of Bohemians in Paris, he was noted for extravagant and eccentric writing, foreshadowing Surrealism. He was not commercially successful though, and eventually was found a minor civil service post by his friends, including Theophile Gautier. He died at Mostaganem in Algeria. He was the subject of a biography by Enid Starkie, Petrus Borel: The Lycanthrope (1954). Pétrus Borel dit « le lycanthrope » est un poète, traducteur et écrivain français, frère d'André Borel d'Hauterive. Il est le douzième des quatorze enfants d'André Borel, quincaillier, et de Magdeleine Victoire Garnaud. He started to study architecture, but abandoned these studies to concentrate on literature. Il est le centre du Petit-Cénacle (cercle des bohémiens à Paris) et il est connu pour son écriture extravagante et excentrique. Il n'a pas beaucoup de succès et finalement il accepte un poste dans le service publique en Algérie, où il meure en 1859. Il a fait l'objet d'une biographie d'Enid Starkie, Petrus Borel : The Lycanthrope (1954).