Jean Giraudoux

Jean Giraudoux

Portrait of Giraudoux in 1927
Born (1882-10-29)29 October 1882
Bellac, Haute-Vienne, France
Died 31 January 1944(1944-01-31) (aged 61)
Paris, France
Occupation Dramatist
Nationality French
Notable works The Madwoman of Chaillot,
Ondine,
Duel of Angels,
The Trojan War Will Not Take Place
Spouse Suzanne Boland

Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (French: [ʒiʁodu]; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II.[1] His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy. Giraudoux's dominant theme is the relationship between man and woman—or in some cases, between man and some unattainable ideal.

Biography

Giraudoux was born in Bellac, Haute-Vienne, where his father, Léger Giraudoux, worked for the Ministry of Transport. Giraudoux studied at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux and, upon graduation, traveled extensively in Europe. After his return to France in 1910, he accepted a position with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the outbreak of World War I, he served with distinction and in 1915 became the first writer ever to be awarded the wartime Legion of Honour.[2]

He married in 1918 and in the subsequent inter-war period produced the majority of his writing. He first achieved literary success through his novels, notably Siegfried et le Limousin (1922) and Eglantine (1927). An ongoing collaboration with actor and theater director Louis Jouvet, beginning in 1928 with Jouvet's radical streamlining of Siegfried for the stage, stimulated his writing.[3] But it is his plays that gained him international renown. He became well known in the English speaking world largely because of the award-winning adaptations of his plays by Christopher Fry (The Trojan War Will Not Take Place) and Maurice Valency (The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ondine, The Enchanted, The Apollo of Bellac).

Giraudoux served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding the Prix Blumenthal, a grant given between 1919 and 1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.[4]

He is buried in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris.[5]

Trivia

Works

Theatrical productions

Films

Publications

  • Provinciales (1909)
  • L'École des indifférents (1911)
  • Lectures pour une ombre (1917)
  • Simon le Pathétique (1918)
  • L'Adieu à la guerre (1919) Grasset[10]
  • Elpénor (1919)
  • Amica America (1919)
  • Adorable Clio (1920)
  • Suzanne et le Pacifique (1921)
  • Siegfried et le Limousin (1922)
  • Juliette au pays des hommes (1924)
  • Bella (1926)
  • Églantine (1927)
  • Aventures de Jérôme Bardini (1930)
  • La France sentimentale (1932)
  • Combat avec l'ange (1934)
  • Choix des élues (1939)
  • Pleins pouvoirs (1939)
  • Armistice à Bordeaux (1945)
  • Sans pouvoirs (1946)
  • La Menteuse (1958)

English–language collections

References

  1. Brockett, Oscar. History of the Theatre Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1968. p. 621.
  2. Fowlie, Wallace. Jean Giraudoux in Gassner, John and Edward Quinn ed. The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama. New York, Thomas Crowell. 1969. p. 359.
  3. "Encyclopædia Britannica Online: "Jean Giraudoux"". Britannica.com. 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  4. "Florence Meyer Blumenthal". Jewish Women's Archive, Michele Siegel.
  5. New York Times; February 1, 1944 Jean Giraudoux obituary.
  6. As quoted in The Beauty Principal (1984) by Victoria Principal, p. 117.
  7. Garson O'Toole (December 5, 2011). "The Main Thing Is Honesty. If You Can Fake That, You’ve Got It Made". Quote Investigator. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  8. The Duchess of Langeais at the Internet Movie Database
  9. Les anges du péché at the Internet Movie Database
  10. GIRAUDOUX Jean & . (Author) (1919-01-01). "GIRAUDOUX Jean & – Adieu à la guerre.: GIRAUDOUX Jean &". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-06-03.

Further reading

External links

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