Francis Carco began life as a libertine youth on the streets of Southern France. Moving to Paris in 1910, he began to write and produced Instincts, from which most of the works in this volume are taken. Carco soon became the personification of a Bohemian, abusing his body with ether, opium and cocaine, and mixing with writers and artists such as Colette, Modigliani and Picasso. His writings on Paris street life were to set the standard for the tradition of fiction, photography and films that represented Montmartre life in the early 20th century.