Jean Giraudoux

Jean Giraudoux
Portrait of Giraudoux in 1927
Born	29 October 1882(1882-10-29) Bellac, Haute-Vienne
Died	31 January 1944(1944-01-31) (aged 61) Paris, France
Occupation	Dramatist
Nationality	French
Notable work(s)	The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ondine, Duel of Angels, The Trojan War Will Not Take Place
Spouse(s)	Suzanne Boland
Influenced Jean Anouilh

Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (October 29, 1882 – January 31, 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II.^[1] His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy. Giraudoux's dominant theme is the relationship between man and woman—or in some cases, between man and some unattainable ideal.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Works 2.1 Theatrical Productions 2.2 Films 2.3 Publications 3 Trivia 4 Notes 5 Further reading 6 External links

Biography

Giraudoux was born in Bellac, Haute-Vienne where his father, Léger Giraudoux, worked for the Ministry of Transport. Giraudoux studied at the Lycée Lakanal in Paris and, upon graduation, traveled extensively in Europe. After his return to France in 1910, he accepted a position with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the outbreak of World War I, he served with honour and in 1915 became the first writer ever to be awarded the wartime Legion of Honour.^[2]

He married in 1918 and in the subsequent inter-war period produced the majority of his writing. He first achieved literary success through his novels, notably Siegfried et le Limousin (1922) and Eglantine (1927). An ongoing collaboration with actor and theater director Louis Jouvet, beginning in 1928 with Jouvet's radical streamlining of Siegfried for the stage, stimulated his writing. But it is his plays that gained him international renown. He became well known in the English speaking world largely because of the award-winning adaptations of his plays by Christopher Fry (The Trojan War Will Not Take Place) and Maurice Valency (The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ondine, The Enchanted, The Apollo of Bellac).

Giraudoux served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding the Prix Blumenthal, a grant given between 1919-1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.^[3]

He is buried in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris.^[4]

Works

Theatrical Productions Siegfried (1928, premiere at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees) Amphitryon 38 (1929 premiere, Comedie des Champs-Elysees) Judith (1931, Théâtre Pigalle) The Enchanted (1933, Comedie des Champs-Elysees) Tessa (1934, Théâtre de l'Athénée) Supplément au voyage de Cook (1935, Théâtre de l'Athénée) The Trojan War Will Not Take Place (1935, Théâtre de l'Athénée) Electra (1937, Théâtre de l'Athénée) L'Impromptu de Paris (1937, Théâtre de l'Athénée) Song of Songs (1938, Comédie-Française) Ondine (1939, Théâtre de l'Athénée) The Apollo of Bellac (1942, Teatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro)) Sodom and Gomorrah (1943, Théâtre Hébertot) The Madwoman of Chaillot (1945, Théâtre de l'Athénée) Duel of Angels (1953, Marigny Theatre) Les Gracques (unfinished; published 1958) Films The Duchess of Langeais (1942), adaptation and dialogue[5] Angels of the Streets (1943), screenplay[6]

Publications Provinciales (1909) L'École des indifférents (1911) Lectures pour une ombre (1917) Simon le Pathétique (1918) Elpénor (1919) Amica America (1919) Adorable Clio (1920) Suzanne et le Pacifique (1921) Siegfried et le Limousin (1922) Juliette au pays des hommes (1924) Bella (1926) Églantine (1927) Aventures de Jérôme Bardini (1930) La France sentimentale (1932) Combat avec l'ange (1934) Choix des élues (1939) La Menteuse (1958)

Trivia

• Giraudoux's name is graffitied on a Parisian wall in François Truffaut's 1959 film The 400 Blows as a reference to the writer.
• A famous quote by Giraudoux is "only the mediocre are always at their best".

Notes

French literature

By category

French literary history

Medieval 16th century · 17th century 18th century · 19th century 20th century · Contemporary

French writers

Chronological list Writers by category Novelists · Playwrights Poets · Essayists Short story writers

Portals

France · Literature

Further reading

• Grossvogel, David I. (1958), 20th Century French Drama , Columbia University Press, New York.
• Fowlie, Wallace (1967), Dionysus in Paris; A Guide to Contemporary French Theater, Meridian Books, Inc, New York, ISBN 0452000920.
• Cohen, Robert (1968), Giraudoux; Three Faces of Destiny, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ISBN 0226112489.
• LeSage, Laurent (1959), Jean Giraudoux; His Life and Works, The Pennsylvania State University Press.
• Inskip, Donald, (1958), Jean Giraudoux, The Making of a Dramatist, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Fletcher, John (1972), Forces in Modern French Drama, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, ISBN 0804421994.
• Knowles, Dorothy (1968), French Drama of the Inter-War Years, 1918-39, Barnes & Noble, Inc., New York.
• Giraudoux, Jean (1963), Three Plays, Translated by Christopher Fry, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Giraudoux, Jean (1964), Three Plays, vol 2, Translated by Phyllis La Farge and Peter H. Judd, Hill and Wang, New York.
• Giraudoux, Jean (1967), Plays, vol 2, Translated by Roger Gellert, Oxford University Press, London.
• Giraudoux, Jean (1958), Four Plays, Adapted by Maurice Valency, Hill and Wang, Inc., New York.

External links

• Jean Giraudoux at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jean Giraudoux at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Jean Giraudoux at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean Giraudoux at Find a Grave
• Works by Jean Giraudoux (public domain in Canada)

Persondata
Name	Giraudoux, Jean
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	29 October 1882
Place of birth	Bellac, Haute-Vienne
Date of death	31 January 1944
Place of death	Paris, France