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JEAN GIRAUDOUX - French Dramatist


"Oh God, if you want women to never again
raise their voices, then create an adult man!"
Jean GIRAUDOUX, Sodome et Gomorrhe, act II, scene 6


Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux {zhee-roh-doo'}, b. Oct. 29, 1882, d. Jan. 31, 1944, was a French dramatist who wrote 15 plays, most initially staged by the actor-director Louis Jouvet and later internationally acclaimed. Giraudoux was also a prose writer and served France as a diplomat and government official.

Giraudoux was born in the village of Bellac and studied at the École Normale Supérieure. In his youth he traveled extensively — to Germany, Italy, the Balkans, Canada, and the United States, where he spent a year (1906-07) as an instructor at Harvard. Returning to France, he served in World War I, was twice wounded, and became the first writer ever to be awarded the wartime Legion of Honor.

His worldwide importance rests on such plays as Amphitryon 38 (1929; Eng. trans., 1938), Judith (1931), Tiger at the Gates (1935; Eng. adaptation of La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, 1955, by Christopher Fry), Ondine (1939; Eng. trans., 1961), and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1945; Eng. trans., 1949), which was published and produced posthumously. Giraudoux also wrote five novels, the best known being My Friend from Limousin (1922; Eng. trans., 1923) and Bella (1926; Eng. trans., 1927), and numerous short stories. He was one of France's outstanding essayists during the interwar years, best known for such literary studies as Racine (1930) and such political studies as Pleins Pouvoirs (Full Powers, 1939). At the start of World War II he served as minister of information under Premier Édouard Daladier.

Giraudoux's dramatic and narrative style is a rich and inimitable blend of allusive prose, allegory, fantasy, and political and psychological perceptions. He tempered tragic themes with rueful comedy, as though he wished to unite the contrasting qualities of Racine, Molière, Maeterlinck, and Baudelaire.


Albert C. Bermel, Professor of Theatre, Herbert H. Lehman College, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York City.
Source: 2001 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia v.14.0.0
Bibliography:
Jacques Body, Jean Giraudoux: The Legend and the Secret, trans. by J. Norwood (1991); Robert Cohen, Giraudoux: Three Faces of Destiny (1968 - out of print); Georges Lemaître, Jean Giraudoux: The Writer and His Work (1971 - out of print); Laurent LeSage, Jean Giraudoux, His Life and Works (1959 - out of print); Paul Mankin, Precious Irony: The Theatre of Jean Giraudoux (1971).
Image Source: portrait of Jean Giraudoux - © UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.

Playwright Biographies:

Links

Giraudoux Links:

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Ondine in 3 Acts
Philippe Lavergne has posted a beautifully illustrated 3-page thematic dissertation (in French) on Giraudoux' 1939 play, Ondine.

Electre @ Lettres.net
J.E Gadenne, professor of Letters at Thionville, has assembled this collection of pedagogical resources (in French) on the playwright's 1937 piece, Electre; intended to aid students in research and preparation for the baccalaureate.

Le Sourcier de l'Eden
Christian B. Allègre, on the faculty at the University of Montreal, presents a thorough pedagogical treatise (in French) on Giraudoux' works.

Giraudoux in Paperback
Click on these titles to view them at Amazon.com: Théâtre Complet, Giraudoux: Four Plays, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Un Prince, Provinciales, De Pleins Pourvoirs à sans Pouvoirs, Amphitryon 38, Les Contes d'un Matin, Aventures de Jerome Bardini, La Guerre de Troie n'Aura pas Lieu, L'Apollon de Bellac (avec: L'Impromptu de Paris), Choix des Elues, Combat avec l'Ange, Juliette au Pays des Hommes, L'Ecole des Indifférents, Ondine, Elpenor, Les Cinq Tentations de la Fontaine, Pour Lucrèce, Simon le Pathétique.

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