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Culture, history,
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JEAN GIRAUDOUX - French Dramatist
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"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:
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Giraudoux Links:
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(links under construction)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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