Daniel Odier
Daniel Robert Odier (born in 1945 in Geneva), also known by his pseudonym Delacorta, is a Swiss author and screenwriter. Praised by Anaïs Nin as "an outstanding writer and a dazzling poet," he is also a prolific writer on Eastern religious traditions, especially Tantra.[1]
Biography
Odier began studies at the school of Beaux Arts at Rome but later chose to focus on writing rather than painting.[2][3] He received his university degree in Paris and was employed by a leading Swiss newspaper as a music critic. He has taught screen writing at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He is married to the violinist Nell Gotkovsky.[1]
Odier is a teacher of Tantra, claiming in his book Tantric Quest, and in his teaching, to have experienced a mystical initiation from a tantric dakini, Lalita Devi, in Kashmir.[4] Odier also claims to have received dharma transmission from Jing Hui, abbot of Bailin Monastery and dharma successor of Hsu Yun,[5][6] using the name "Ming Qing".[note 1] He founded the "Tantra/Chan centre" in Paris, which operated from 1995 to 2000, and has taught courses on Eastern spiritual traditions at the University of California.[3][4] He has published a number of books on Tantra and related subjects, some of which have been translated into English and other languages.
Works
Apart from his works on Tantra, Odier is best known for a series of six novels published under the pseudonym 'Delacorta.' The books center around an underage girl named Alba and her sugar daddy, Serge Gorodish, a classically trained pianist with depressive tendencies. The two enjoy an intense romantic relationship (never actually consummated), and embark together upon various confidence schemes and other intrigues. These often result in the death or discomfiture of less sympathetic characters, although Alba and Gorodish themselves appear to be motivated more by their own profit and amusement than by any moral considerations. The series includes the novel Diva which was later used as the basis for a popular French film of the same name. Odier has also used the Delacorta pseudonym for several unrelated books (mostly detective novels or thrillers) and as a screenwriter. The Alba/Gorodish books have appeared in omnibus editions in French and have been published in numerous other languages. Most of Odier's other fiction remains untranslated.
In addition to Diva, film adaptations of Odier's books include Light Years Away (from the novel, La voie sauvage) and a French television film based on the Delacorta novel Rock (Lola). Odier's own screenwriting credits include the films Invitation au voyage (1982) and Celestial Clockwork (1995).[8]
Bibliography
Fiction, Poetry and Criticism
- Transparences (poetry, 1964)
- Le soleil dans la poche (poetry, 1965)
- Rouge (1967)
- Entretiens avec William Burroughs (1969; English trans. The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs, 1969)
- Nuit contre nuit (poetry, 1972)
- Le voyage de John O'Flaherty (novel, 1972; republished 1997 as L'illusionniste)
- Éclats d'ombre (1972)
- La voie sauvage (novel, 1974)
- Ming (novel, 1976)
- Splendor solis (1976)
- L'année du lièvre (novel, 1978)
- Le milieu du monde: une fabuleuse traversée de l'histoire Suisse (novel, 1979)
- Petit déjeuner sur un tapis rouge (novel, 1982)
- Gioconda (novel, 1984)
- Cécilia (opera libretto, 1985)
- Le baiser cannibale (novel, 1987; English trans. Cannibal Kiss, 1989)
- Le clavecin (novel, 1992)
- Les sept secondes de l'arc-en-ciel (novel, 2006)
Pseudonymous works (as 'Delacorta')
- Nana (1979; Eng. trans. 1984)
- Diva (1979; Eng. trans. 1983)
- Luna (1979; Eng. trans. 1984)
- Rock (1981; some editions titled Lola; Eng. trans.: Lola, 1984)
- Papillons de nuit (1984)
- Vida (1985; Eng. trans. 1985)
- Alba (1985; Eng. trans. 1989)
- Somnambule (essays on photographs by Stanley Greene, 1990)
- Rap à Babylone Beach (1992; Eng. trans. The Rap Factor, 1993)
- Imago (1996)
Works on Tantra and Eastern Mysticism
- Sculptures tantriques du Népal (1970)
- Nirvana Tao: techniques de méditation (1974; Eng. trans. Nirvana Tao: The Secret Meditation Techniques of the Taoist and Buddhist Masters, 1986; republished as Meditation Techniques of the Buddhist and Taoist Masters, 2003)
- Népal (1976)
- (with Marc de Smedt) Essais sur les mystiques orientales (1984)
- Tantra: l'initiation d'un occidental à l'amour absolu (1996; Eng. trans. Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love, 1997)
- Désirs, passions et spiritualité: l'unité de l'être (1999; Eng. trans. Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening, 2001)
- Lalla. Chants mystiques du tantrisme cachemirien (translation from English, 2000)
- Tantra: spontanéité de l'extase (2000)
- L'incendie du coeur: le chant tantrique du frémissement (2004; Eng. trans. Yoga Spandakarika: The Sacred Texts at the Origins of Tantra, 2005)
- Tantra yoga: le Vijñânabhaïrava Tantra, le 'tantra de la connaissance suprême' (2004)
- Le grand sommeil des éveillés: interromptu par l'exposition de Mahchinachara, La Grande Voie Chinoise, Coeur du Tantra et du Chan (2005)
- Chan & Zen: le jardin des iconoclastes (2009)
- Tantra: la dimension sacrée de l'érotisme (2013)
- Les portes de la joie: être vraiment zen (6th Feb 2014; Eng. trans. The Doors of Joy: 19 Meditations for Authentic Living, 2014)
See also
Notes
References
- 1 2 Delacorta (1984). Nana. Summit Books. p. 127.
- ↑ French Wikipedia entry: Daniel Odier
- 1 2 Delacorta at Biogs.com
- 1 2 Daniel Odier's Official Webpage: Biography in English
- ↑ Biography (at bottom of the page)
- ↑ zhaozhou-chan, BIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL ODIER
- ↑ The Dharma Lineage of my Master: Grand Master JING Hui, Abbot of Bai-lin (Cypress Forest)
- ↑ Daniel Odier at IMDb.com
External links
- Daniel Odier's Official Webpage
- Daniel Odier at the Internet Movie Database
- Publications by and about Daniel Odier in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library
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