Henri Murger began writing poems depicting Bohemian life in Paris, and became part of the that world. He lived in poverty and with poor health. His classic novel of Bohemian life is based on a series of magazine sketches later made into a successful play.

First published in 1851, "The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter" is a collection of loosely united chapters beginning with the first meeting of the four main characters (Gustave Colline, the great philosopher; Marcel, the great painter; Schaunard, the great musician; and Rodolphe, the great poet, who Murger modeled after himself) and ending with their departure from Bohemia in favor of bourgeois life.

"The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter" was the source of the plot used by Puccini in his opera "La Bohème".