HARRY, MYRIAM

HARRY, MYRIAM, pen name of Mme. Emile Perrault, née Shapira (1875–1958), French author. She was born in Jerusalem, the daughter of Moses William Shapira; her mother was a former Protestant deaconess. Myriam was educated in   Berlin and Paris, where she became secretary to the French critic, Jules Lemaître. She led an active life and many of her experiences found their way into her stories. Her sensitivity to human suffering lent depth and color to such works as La Conquête de Jérusalem (1903), La Divine chanson (1911), La petite fille de Jérusalem (1914), Siona chez les Barbares (1918), Siona à Paris (1919), and Le Tendre cantique de Siona (1922). Myriam Harry also wrote accounts of her travels in Tunisia, Egypt, the Levant, Madagascar, Persia, Indochina, and Palestine. Three of these, Les Amants de Sion (1923), La Nuit de Jérusalem (1928), and La Jérusalem retrouvée (1930), show clearly her sympathy for the Zionist movement. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Mailloux, Myriam Harry (Fr., 1920); Le Monde (March 12, 1958). (Moshe Catane)