Julien Gracq
Encyclopedia
Julien Gracq born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil
Saint-Florent-le-Vieil
Saint-Florent-le-Vieil is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.-Geography:The Èvre forms the commune's western border, then flows into the Loire, which forms the commune's northern border.-References:*...

, in the French département of Maine-et-Loire
Maine-et-Loire
Maine-et-Loire is a department in west-central France, in the Pays de la Loire region.- History :Maine-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Originally it was called Mayenne-et-Loire, but its name was changed to Maine-et-Loire in 1791....

, was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

.

Gracq first studied in Paris at the Lycée Henri IV
Lycée Henri IV
The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with Louis-le-Grand it is widely regarded as one of the most demanding sixth-form colleges in France....

, where he earned his baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...

. He then entered the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

 in 1930, later studying at the École libre des sciences politiques.

In 1932, he read André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....

's Nadja, which deeply influenced him. His first novel, The Castle of Argol is dedicated to that surrealist writer, to whom he devoted a whole book in 1948.

During the Second World War, he was a prisoner of war in Silesia with other officers of the French Army. One of the friendships he formed there was with author and literary critic Armand Hoog.

In 1950, he published in the review "Empédocle" a fierce attack on contemporary literary culture and literary prizes (La Littérature à l'estomac). When he won 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"...

 for The Opposing Shore (Le Rivage des Syrtes) the following year, he remained consistent with his criticism and refused the prize.

In 1979, he wrote the foreword re-edition of the Journal de l'analogiste (1954) by Suzanne Lilar
Suzanne Lilar
Suzanne, Baroness Lilar was a Flemish Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright writing in French...

; he viewed that work as "Une initiation somptueuse à la poésie".

In 1989, Gracq's work was published by the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
The Bibliothèque de la Pléiade is a French series of books which was created in the 1930s by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. . Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the complete works of classic authors in a pocket format...

. He remained distant from major literary events and faithful to his first publisher, José Corti
José Corti
José Corti is a book shop and publishing house located in Paris, France, and was founded in 1925.It is named after its founder, José Corticchiato ; it is one of France's most prestigious and low-profile independent publishing houses...

. Gracq taught history and geography in secondary school (high school) until he retired in 1970.

Gracq lived a quiet life in his native town of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, on the banks of the Loire River. On 22 December 2007, a couple of days after suffering a dizzy spell, he died at the age of 97 in a hospital in Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

.

Works

  • Au château d’Argol, 1938 (novel) (English translation: The Castle of Argol or château d'Argol)
  • Un beau ténébreux, 1945 (novel)
  • Liberté grande, 1947 (poetry)
  • Le Roi pêcheur, 1948 (play)
  • André Breton, quelques aspects de l’écrivain, 1948 (critique)
  • La Littérature à l'estomac, 1949
  • Le Rivage des Syrtes, 1951 (novel) (English translation: The Opposing Shore)

The Opposing Shore (Le Rivage des Syrtes, 1951) is Julien Gracq's most famous novel, a novel of waiting.

Set in a closed place (a fortress) close to a frontier (the sea) which defines the threshold between the here (the stagnant principality of Orsenna) and there (mysterious Farghestan), its lonely characters are in-betweens waiting for something to happen, wondering whether something must get done to bring about change, particularly when this may mean the death of men and states.
  • Prose pour l’Etrangère, 1952
  • Penthésilée, 1954
  • Un balcon en forêt, 1958 (novel) (English translation: A Balcony in the Forest)
  • Préférences, 1961
  • Lettrines, 1967
  • La Presqu’île
    La Presqu’île
    La Presqu’île is the title of a collection of three short pieces by French writer Julien Gracq that takes its name from its second work, a novella, which is preceded by La Route and followed by Le Roi Cophetua. The Peninsula and King Cophetua have been published separately in English by Green...

    , 1970
  • Le Roi Cophetua, 1970 (novel) (English translation: King Cophetua); it inspired the film Rendezvous at Bray
    Rendezvous at Bray
    Rendezvous at Bray is a 1971 French-Belgian drama film directed by André Delvaux and starring Anna Karina. It was entered into the 21st Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Anna Karina - Elle * Mathieu Carrière - Julien Eschenbach...

    , directed by André Delvaux
  • Lettrines II, 1974
  • Les Eaux Etroites, 1976 (Allusions, allegories and metaphors on a french river, l'Èvre.)
  • En lisant en écrivant, 1980
  • La Forme d’une ville, 1985
  • Autour des sept collines, 1988
  • Carnets du grand chemin, 1992
  • Entretiens, 2002

See also

  • Le Mondes 100 Books of the Century
    Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century
    The 100 Books of the Century is a grading of the books considered as the hundred best of the 20th century, drawn up in the spring of 1999 through a poll conducted by the French retailer Fnac and the Paris newspaper Le Monde....

    , a list which includes The Opposing Shore

External links

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