Hervé Bazin: Difference between revisions
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== Biography == |
== Biography == |
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Bazin came from a high-bourgeois Catholic family in [[Angers]]. He was the great-nephew of the writer, and member of the [[Academie Française]], [[René Bazin]].<ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57015/Herve-Bazin </ref> Bazin had a difficult childhood. His father was a magistrate who with his wife had been sent to China to take up a diplomatic post. Herve and his brother were brought up in the ancestral home, the chateau of Le Patys, by their grandmother. When she died, his mother returned from [[Shanghai]] with reluctance. She sent Bazin to a variety of clerical establishments which could not control him and then to the military academy, the Prytanee de la Fleche, from which he was expelled as incompetent. <ref> The Independent, 23 February, 1996 [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-herve-bazin-1320512.html]</ref>He opposed his authoritarian mother, ran away several times during his teens, and refused Catholic teachings. At the age of 20 he broke up with his family.{{fact}} |
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Bazin had a difficult childhood living in a bigoted bourgeois family. He opposed his authoritarian mother, ran away several times during his teens, and refused Catholic teachings. At the age of 20 he broke up with his family. |
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During fifteen years of writing poetry with little success, Bazin worked in lots of small jobs. Notable work of this period |
Leaving his home for Paris, he took a degree in literature at the [[Sorbonne]]. During fifteen years of writing poetry with little success, Bazin worked in lots of small jobs. Notable work of this period included founding a poetic review, ''la Coquille'' (''The Shell'', only eight volumes), named after the medieval poet-beggars, the ''coquillards'' of [[Jacques Villon|Villon]]'s days,<ref> The Independent, 23 February, 1996 [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-herve-bazin-1320512.html]</ref> and "À la poursuite d'Iris" in 1948. He won the 1947 [[Prix Apollinaire]] for ''Jour'', his first book of poetry. |
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Following the advice of [[Paul Valéry]], he left poetry to focus on prose. |
Following the advice of [[Paul Valéry]], he left poetry to focus on prose. |
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Hervé Bazin (Jean-Pierre Hervé-Bazin) (April 17, 1911, Angers, Maine-et-Loire - February 17, 1996, Angers) was a French writer, whose best-known novels covered semi-autobiographical topics of teenage rebellion and dysfunctional families.[1]
Biography
Bazin came from a high-bourgeois Catholic family in Angers. He was the great-nephew of the writer, and member of the Academie Française, René Bazin.[2] Bazin had a difficult childhood. His father was a magistrate who with his wife had been sent to China to take up a diplomatic post. Herve and his brother were brought up in the ancestral home, the chateau of Le Patys, by their grandmother. When she died, his mother returned from Shanghai with reluctance. She sent Bazin to a variety of clerical establishments which could not control him and then to the military academy, the Prytanee de la Fleche, from which he was expelled as incompetent. [3]He opposed his authoritarian mother, ran away several times during his teens, and refused Catholic teachings. At the age of 20 he broke up with his family.[citation needed]
Leaving his home for Paris, he took a degree in literature at the Sorbonne. During fifteen years of writing poetry with little success, Bazin worked in lots of small jobs. Notable work of this period included founding a poetic review, la Coquille (The Shell, only eight volumes), named after the medieval poet-beggars, the coquillards of Villon's days,[4] and "À la poursuite d'Iris" in 1948. He won the 1947 Prix Apollinaire for Jour, his first book of poetry.
Following the advice of Paul Valéry, he left poetry to focus on prose.
Childhood conflicts with his mother inspired the novel Viper in the Fist in 1948. The novel portrays the hatred between a mother nicknamed Folcoche (from the French "folle" (crazy) and "cochonne" (pig) and her children, including the narrator Jean Rezeau, called "Brasse-bouillon". Maurice Nadeau described the novel as "Atrides in duffle-coat" [citation needed]. The book was immensely successful in postwar France, and was followed by La Mort du Petit Cheval and Le Cri de la Chouette to create a trilogy. In other works, Bazin returned to the theme of the family. In addition to novels, he also wrote short stories and essays.
Hervé Bazin became a member of the Académie Goncourt in 1958, replacing Francis Carco. He became its president in 1973, and was replaced, after his death, by Jorge Semprún, while the presidency was given to François Nourissier.
Politically, Hervé Bazin belonged to the Mouvement de la Paix, in relation with the communist party of which he was a sympathizer. He obtained the Lenin Peace Prize in 1979. This made Roger Peyrefitte say jokingly: "Hervé Bazin had two prize which fitted each other: the Lenin Peace Prize and the black humour prize." [citation needed]
In 1995, he gave his manuscripts and letters to the record office of the town of Nancy, which already owned the fund of the Goncourt brothers, who originated from the town. Due to a juridicial imbroglio, the six children of his first marriages obtained, against the will of his last spouse and last son, the auction of the fund at the Hôtel Drouot on 29 October 2004. With help from the district's authorities, the university library of Angers managed to preempt almost the whole of the estate, meaning 22 manuscripts and about 9000 letters which were made available to the research community, as the author wished.
Published works
- Jour, poems, 1947
- A la poursuite d'Iris, poems, 1948
- Vipère au poing (Viper in the Fist), autobiographical novel, 1948
- La Tête contre les murs, novel, publié en 1949
- La Mort du petit cheval, autobiographical novel, sequel to "Vipère au poing", 1950
- Le bureau des mariages, short stories, 1951
- Lève-toi et marche, novel, publié en 1952
- Humeurs, poems, 1953
- Contre vents et marées, 1953
- L'Huile sur le feu, novel, 1954
- Qui j'ose aimer, novel, 1956
- La fin des asiles, essay, 1959
- Au nom du fils, novel, 1960
- Chapeau bas, short stories, 1963 : Chapeau bas, Bouc émissaire, La hotte, M. le conseiller du coeur, Souvenirs d'un amnésique, Mansarde à louer, La Clope
- Plumons l'oiseau, essay, 1966
- Le Matrimoine, novel, 1967
- Les bienheureux de La Désolation, account, 1970 : the story of the total population evacuation of the island of Tristan da Cunha (also known as "La Désolation") following the 1961 volcanic eruption, their refusal of the consumerist society of England, where they had been resettled, and their iron will to come back to their island and repopulate one of the hardest places to live in the world, and live according to their own ideal. With success.
- Le Cri de la chouette, autobiographical novel (sequel to "Vipère au poing" and "La mort du petit cheval"), 1972
- Madame Ex, novel, 1975
- Traits, 1976
- Ce que je crois, 1977
- Un feu dévore un autre feu, 1978
- L'Église verte, novel, 1981
- Qui est le prince?, 1981
- Abécédaire, 1984
- Le Démon de minuit, 1988
- L'École des pères, novel, 1991
- Le grand méchant doux, 1992
- Le Neuvième jour, 1994
References
- ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57015/Herve-Bazin
- ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57015/Herve-Bazin
- ^ The Independent, 23 February, 1996 [1]
- ^ The Independent, 23 February, 1996 [2]
Sources
- Jean-Louis de Rambures, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with Hervé Bazin, in French)