Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 -1949) was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist. He was a Fleming, but wrote in French. His plays form an important part of the Symbolist movement. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911 "in appreciation of his many-sided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations". The Death of Tintagiles, published in 1894 is the author's favorite, and in general estimation his best, play.