Jean Giraudoux
| Jean Giraudoux | |
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 Portrait of Giraudoux in 1927 |
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| Born | 29 October 1882 Bellac, Haute-Vienne |
| Died | 31 January 1944 (aged 61) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Dramatist |
| Nationality | French |
| Notable work(s) | The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ondine, Duel of Angels, The Trojan War Will Not Take Place |
| Spouse(s) | Suzanne Boland |
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Influenced
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Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (October 29, 1882 – January 31, 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.
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[edit] 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 Paris 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 honour 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. 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 1919-1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.[3]
He is buried in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris.[4]
[edit] Works
[edit] Theatrical Productions
[edit] Films
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[edit] Publications
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[edit] Trivia
- Giraudoux's name is graffitied on a Parisian wall in François Truffaut's 1959 film The 400 Blows as a reference to the writer.
- A famous quote by Giraudoux is "only the mediocre are always at their best".
[edit] Notes
| French literature |
| By category |
| French literary history |
| French writers |
| Portals |
| France · Literature |
- ^ Brockett, Oscar. History of the Theatre Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1968. p. 621.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Florence Meyer Blumenthal". Jewish Women's Archive, Michele Siegel. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/blumenthal-florence-meyer.
- ^ New York Times; February 1, 1944 Jean Giraudoux obituary.
- ^ The Duchess of Langeais at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Les anges du péché at the Internet Movie Database
[edit] Further reading
- Grossvogel, David I. (1958), 20th Century French Drama , Columbia University Press, New York.
- Fowlie, Wallace (1967), Dionysus in Paris; A Guide to Contemporary French Theater, Meridian Books, Inc, New York, ISBN 0452000920.
- Cohen, Robert (1968), Giraudoux; Three Faces of Destiny, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ISBN 0226112489.
- LeSage, Laurent (1959), Jean Giraudoux; His Life and Works, The Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Inskip, Donald, (1958), Jean Giraudoux, The Making of a Dramatist, Oxford University Press, New York.
- Fletcher, John (1972), Forces in Modern French Drama, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, ISBN 0804421994.
- Knowles, Dorothy (1968), French Drama of the Inter-War Years, 1918-39, Barnes & Noble, Inc., New York.
- Giraudoux, Jean (1963), Three Plays, Translated by Christopher Fry, Oxford University Press, New York.
- Giraudoux, Jean (1964), Three Plays, vol 2, Translated by Phyllis La Farge and Peter H. Judd, Hill and Wang, New York.
- Giraudoux, Jean (1967), Plays, vol 2, Translated by Roger Gellert, Oxford University Press, London.
- Giraudoux, Jean (1958), Four Plays, Adapted by Maurice Valency, Hill and Wang, Inc., New York.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jean Giraudoux |
- Jean Giraudoux at the Internet Broadway Database
- Jean Giraudoux at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Jean Giraudoux at the Internet Movie Database
- Jean Giraudoux at doollee online guide to theatre
- Jean Giraudoux at Find a Grave
- Works by Jean Giraudoux (public domain in Canada)
