Alain-Fournier
Encyclopedia
Alain-Fournier was the pseudonym
of Henri Alban-Fournier (October 3, 1886 – September 22, 1914), a French author
and soldier. He was the author of a single novel, Le Grand Meaulnes
(1913), which has been twice filmed and is considered a classic of French literature
.
, in the Cher
département, in central France
, the son of a school teacher. He studied at the Lycée Lakanal
in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine
, near Paris
, where he prepared for the entrance examination to the École Normale Supérieure
, but without success. He then studied at the merchant marine school in Brest
. At the Lycée Lakanal
he met Jacques Rivière
, and the two became close friends. In 1909, Rivière married Alain-Fournier's younger sister Isabelle.
He interrupted his studies in 1907 and from 1908 to 1909 he performed his military service. At this time he published some essays, poems and stories which were later collected and re-published under the name Miracles.
Throughout this period he was mulling over what would become his celebrated novel, Le Grand Meaulnes. On the first of June 1905, Ascension day, while he was talking a stroll along banks of the Seine
he had met Yvonne de Quiévrecourt, with whom he became deeply enamoured. The two spoke, but he did not manage to win her favours. The following year on the same day he waited for her at the same place, but she did not appear. That night he told Rivière, "She did not come. And even if she had, she would not have been the same". They did not meet again until eight years later, when she was married with two children. Yvonne de Quiévrecourt would become Yvonne de Galais in his novel.
He returned to Paris in 1910 and became a literary critic, writing for the Paris-Journal
. There he met André Gide
and Paul Claudel
. In 1912, he quit his job to become the personal assistant of the politician Casimir Perrier. Le Grand Meaulnes was finished in early 1913, and was first published in the Nouvelle Revue Française
(from July to October 1913), and then as a book. Le Grand Meaulnes was nominated for, but did not win, the Prix Goncourt
. It is available in English in a widely-admired 1959 translation by Frank Davison
for Oxford University Press.
In 1914, Alain-Fournier started work on a second novel, Colombe Blanchet, but this remained unfinished when he joined the army as a Lieutenant in August. He died fighting near Vaux-lès-Palameix
(Meuse
) one month later, on the 22nd of September 1914. His body remained unidentified until 1991, at which time he was interred in the cemetery of Saint-Remy-la-Calonne
.
Most of the writing of Alain-Fournier was published posthumously: Miracles (a volume of poems and essays) in 1924, his correspondence with Jacques Rivière
in 1926 and his letters to his family in 1930. His notes and sketches for Colombe Blanchet have also been published.
Collection. It is a grateful letter for her introduction to Monsieur Hébrard and refers to his next work:
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Henri Alban-Fournier (October 3, 1886 – September 22, 1914), a French author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and soldier. He was the author of a single novel, Le Grand Meaulnes
Le Grand Meaulnes
Le Grand Meaulnes is the only novel by French author Alain-Fournier. Fifteen-year-old François Seurel narrates the story of his relationship with seventeen-year-old Augustin Meaulnes as Meaulnes searches for his lost love. Impulsive, reckless and heroic, Meaulnes embodies the romantic ideal, the...
(1913), which has been twice filmed and is considered a classic of French literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
.
Biography
Alain-Fournier was born in La Chapelle-d'AngillonLa Chapelle-d'Angillon
La Chapelle-d’Angillon is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre region of France.-Geography:A village of lakes, forestry and farming situated in the valley of the river Sauldre, some north of Bourges at the junction of the D12, D940 and the D926...
, in the Cher
Cher (département)
Cher is an administrative department located in the centre of France. It is named after the Cher River.-History:Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Most of it was created, along with the adjacent department of Indre from the former...
département, in central France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the son of a school teacher. He studied at the Lycée Lakanal
Lycée Lakanal
Lycée Lakanal is a secondary public school in Sceaux, France. It was named after Joseph Lakanal, a French politician, and an original member of the Institut de France. The school also offers a middle school and highly ranked "classes préparatoires" undergraduate training...
in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine
Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine
Sceaux is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Wealth:Sceaux is famous for the Château of Sceaux, set in its large park , designed by André Le Nôtre, measuring...
, near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he prepared for the entrance examination to the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, but without success. He then studied at the merchant marine school in Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. At the Lycée Lakanal
Lycée Lakanal
Lycée Lakanal is a secondary public school in Sceaux, France. It was named after Joseph Lakanal, a French politician, and an original member of the Institut de France. The school also offers a middle school and highly ranked "classes préparatoires" undergraduate training...
he met Jacques Rivière
Jacques Rivière
Jacques Rivière was a French "man of letters". He edited La Nouvelle Revue Française from 1919 until his death...
, and the two became close friends. In 1909, Rivière married Alain-Fournier's younger sister Isabelle.
He interrupted his studies in 1907 and from 1908 to 1909 he performed his military service. At this time he published some essays, poems and stories which were later collected and re-published under the name Miracles.
Throughout this period he was mulling over what would become his celebrated novel, Le Grand Meaulnes. On the first of June 1905, Ascension day, while he was talking a stroll along banks of the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
he had met Yvonne de Quiévrecourt, with whom he became deeply enamoured. The two spoke, but he did not manage to win her favours. The following year on the same day he waited for her at the same place, but she did not appear. That night he told Rivière, "She did not come. And even if she had, she would not have been the same". They did not meet again until eight years later, when she was married with two children. Yvonne de Quiévrecourt would become Yvonne de Galais in his novel.
He returned to Paris in 1910 and became a literary critic, writing for the Paris-Journal
Le Journal (Paris)
Le Journal was a Paris daily newspaper published from 1892 to 1944 in a small, four-page format.It was founded and edited by Fernand Arthur Pierre Xau until 1899...
. There he met André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
and Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism.-Life:...
. In 1912, he quit his job to become the personal assistant of the politician Casimir Perrier. Le Grand Meaulnes was finished in early 1913, and was first published in the Nouvelle Revue Française
Nouvelle Revue Française
La Nouvelle Revue Française is a literary magazine founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals, including André Gide, Jacques Copeau, and Jean Schlumberger...
(from July to October 1913), and then as a book. Le Grand Meaulnes was nominated for, but did not win, the Prix Goncourt
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
. It is available in English in a widely-admired 1959 translation by Frank Davison
Frank Davison
Frank Davison was a British translator. He is best known for his translation of Alain-Fournier's classic novel Le Grand Meaulnes. This translation, first published by Oxford University Press in 1959, has remained in print ever since. It is the "classic" translation of the work, praised for its...
for Oxford University Press.
In 1914, Alain-Fournier started work on a second novel, Colombe Blanchet, but this remained unfinished when he joined the army as a Lieutenant in August. He died fighting near Vaux-lès-Palameix
Vaux-lès-Palameix
Vaux-lès-Palameix is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meuse department*Parc naturel régional de Lorraine...
(Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
) one month later, on the 22nd of September 1914. His body remained unidentified until 1991, at which time he was interred in the cemetery of Saint-Remy-la-Calonne
Saint-Remy-la-Calonne
Saint-Remy-la-Calonne is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-References:*...
.
Most of the writing of Alain-Fournier was published posthumously: Miracles (a volume of poems and essays) in 1924, his correspondence with Jacques Rivière
Jacques Rivière
Jacques Rivière was a French "man of letters". He edited La Nouvelle Revue Française from 1919 until his death...
in 1926 and his letters to his family in 1930. His notes and sketches for Colombe Blanchet have also been published.
Albin Schram manuscripts
A correspondence between Alain-Fournier and an unidentified woman was found in the Albin SchramAlbin Schram
Albin Schram was one of the greatest collectors of autograph letters by shapers of world history. He was born in Prague to Austrian parents. He studied law at Vienna University and worked in Vienna, Germany and Switzerland...
Collection. It is a grateful letter for her introduction to Monsieur Hébrard and refers to his next work:
- Il m'a proposé pour le TempsLe Temps (Paris)Le Temps was one of Paris's most important daily newspapers from April 25, 1861 to November 30, 1942.Founded in 1861 by Edmund Chojecki and Auguste Nefftzer, Le Temps was under Nefftzer's direction for ten years, when Adrien Hébrard took his place...
ce qu'il était le plus logique de me proposer: lui apporter mon prochain roman - ce que j'ai promis bien volontiers. Ce second roman est, pour l'instant un peu retardé par une nouvelle oeuvre qui s'est mise au travers de ma route et qui ne me laisse pas beaucoup de répit. Mais j'espère bien avant la fin de l'année avoir terminé Colombe Blanchet.
- He has proposed to me for Le Temps that which was the most logical thing to propose to me: to bring him my next novel - which I have promised quite willingly. This second novel is, for the moment, somewhat delayed by a new work which is placing itself across my path and which doesn't leave me much respite. But I hope well before the end of the year to have finished Colombe Blanchet.
Works
- Le Grand MeaulnesLe Grand MeaulnesLe Grand Meaulnes is the only novel by French author Alain-Fournier. Fifteen-year-old François Seurel narrates the story of his relationship with seventeen-year-old Augustin Meaulnes as Meaulnes searches for his lost love. Impulsive, reckless and heroic, Meaulnes embodies the romantic ideal, the...
- Colombe Blanchet
- Lettre au Petit B
- Miracles (poems)
See also
- NançayNançayNançay is a commune in the Cher department in central France.-Geography:The village is located south of the Sologne and north-east of Vierzon. The Rère flows southwestward through the middle of the commune.-History:...
and the Loire ValleyLoire ValleyThe Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
, widely thought to be the inspiration for the setting for Le Grand Meaulnes. - Prix Alain-FournierPrix Alain-FournierThe Prix Alain-Fournier is a French literary prize, awarded by the town of Saint-Amand-Montrond in honour of Alain-Fournier, author of Le Grand Meaulnes...