Jean Follain
Encyclopedia
Max Jacob
Max Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
, André Salmon
André Salmon
André Salmon was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the defenders of cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal.-Biography:Andre Salmon was born in Paris...
, Jean Paulhan
Jean Paulhan
Jean Paulhan was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Française from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member of the Académie Française...
, Pierre Pussy, Armen Lubin, and Pierre Reverdy
Pierre Reverdy
Pierre Reverdy was a French poet associated with surrealism and cubism.Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne and grew up near the Montagne Noire in his father's house. Reverdy came from a family of sculptors. His father taught him to read and write. He studied at Toulouse and Narbonne.Reverdy...
. He was a contributor to many journals, such as La Nouvelle Revue française, Commerce, Europe, Le Journal des Poètes and Les Cahiers des Saisons. In 1970, he was awarded the Grand Prize of Poetry from L'Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
for his life's work. A small part of his archives is conserved at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Lô in France. Prix littéraire Jean Follain de la Ville de Saint Lô is a literary award honouring his name and contributions to French literature. He studied law in Paris and became a judge. He died in 1971 in a car accident.
Life
Jean Follain was born in the small town of Canisy, south of Saint-LôSaint-Lô
Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in Normandy.-History:Originally called Briovère , the town is built on and around ramparts. Originally it was a Gaul fortified settlement...
where he spent his childhood. He attended a college where his father was professor of the Natural Sciences. In 1919 he went to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
in a vain attempt to improve his English, and in 1921 he began studying law at Faculte de Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
. For health reasons he was exempted from military service
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
.
In 1927 he passed his bar exams in Paris and started attending the meetings of the group "Sagesse" ("Wisdom") where he made the acquaintance of André Salmon
André Salmon
André Salmon was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the defenders of cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal.-Biography:Andre Salmon was born in Paris...
, Pierre Reverdy
Pierre Reverdy
Pierre Reverdy was a French poet associated with surrealism and cubism.Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne and grew up near the Montagne Noire in his father's house. Reverdy came from a family of sculptors. His father taught him to read and write. He studied at Toulouse and Narbonne.Reverdy...
, Pierre Mac Orlan
Pierre Mac Orlan
Pierre Mac Orlan, sometimes written MacOrlan, was a French novelist and songwriter.His novel Quai des Brumes was the source for Marcel Carné's 1938 film of the same name, starring Jean Gabin...
and Max Jacob
Max Jacob
Max Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
. In 1933 he published his first collection with Eugène Guillevic
Eugène Guillevic
Eugène Guillevic was one of the better known French poets of the second half of the 20th century. Professionally, he went under just the single name "Guillevic".-Life:...
and Pierre Albert-Birot
Pierre Albert-Birot
Pierre Albert-Birot was a French avant-garde author.Born in Angoulôme, he moved to Paris in 1894. There he attended art school and befriended Gustave Moreau. He worked for five decades as a restorer for antique dealer Madame Lelong....
. In 1934 he married the daughter of the painter Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis was a French painter and writer, and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art.-Childhood and education:...
. In 1939 he received the Mallarmé Prize. Jean Follain received the Prix Blumenthal
Prix Blumenthal
The Prix Blumenthal was a grant or stipend awarded through the philanthropy of Florence Meyer Blumenthal — and the foundation she created, Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal — to discover young French artists, aid them financially, and in the process draw the United States...
in 1941, awarded to poets who refused to collaborate with the Vichy Government.
In 1951 he gave up his career as a business lawyer and was appointed to the post of judge (magistrate) of the High Court in Charleville
Charleville
Charleville can refer to:* Charleville, County Cork, a town in Ireland**Charleville railway station**Charleville GAA**Charleville * Charleville, Queensland, a town in Australia...
. In 1949 he became a member of the Board of the "Pen Club". In 1957, he travelled to Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Japan, and in 1958 he received the International Award of Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
. in 1960 he travelled to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Peru and Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and in 1966 to the United States. He also visited Ivory Coast and Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
in 1967. He resigned from the bench in 1961, attending to the cultural decade of Cerisy-la-Salle
Cerisy-la-Salle
-See also:* Centre culturel international de Cerisy-la-Salle* Communes of the Manche department...
near Canisy. In 1970 he received the grand prize for poetry from L'Académie Française. He died in Paris on 10 March 1971 when, returning from a banquet given by the Boat Touring Club, he was run over by a car shortly after midnight at the outlet of the tunnel of the Quay of des Tuileries. He was buried on 16 March in Canisy.
The "Reading Association at Saint-Lô" and the city of Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in Normandy.-History:Originally called Briovère , the town is built on and around ramparts. Originally it was a Gaul fortified settlement...
with the assistance of the Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs of the Lower Normandy Regional Centre of Letters and the Council General of France organise a biannual literary Prize in his name: Jean Follain Prize in the city of Saint-Lô.
Poems
- Usage du temps (1943)
- Exister (1947)
- Tout instant (1957)
- Appareil de la terre (1964)
- Transparence of the World (1969) (Copper Canyon PressCopper Canyon PressCopper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, 2003) (translated and selected by W.S. Merwin) - Espaces d'instants (1971)
- Death of the Ferret
- The Black Insect
- Habit
- Empire
Awards
- Mallarmé Prize (1939)
- International Prize of Capri (1958)
- Grand Prize of Poetry (L'Académie française 1970)
- Prix BlumenthalPrix BlumenthalThe Prix Blumenthal was a grant or stipend awarded through the philanthropy of Florence Meyer Blumenthal — and the foundation she created, Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal — to discover young French artists, aid them financially, and in the process draw the United States...
(1941)