Edmond (Eugene Alexis) Rostand was born on April 1, 1868 in Marseilles, France. The son of a prominent journalist and economist; Rostand was encouraged to write from a very early age. In his teens he began creating plays for marionette (puppet) theater, and, at the age of sixteen, had several poems and essays published in the literary magazine Mireille. At the College Stanislas in Paris he studied literature, philosophy, and history before going on to study law at the local university. Rostand's ambition, however, was to be a writer, and though he completed the coursework, he never practiced law.

Rostand's first play, Le gant rouge (1888), and his first book of poetry, Les musardises (1890), were largely ignored by both critics and the public. It was Les romanesques (The Romancers, 1894) which served as his breakthrough. Produced at the Comedie Francaise in 1894, its romantic style stood in contrast to the naturalism...