Éditions Denoël is a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
publishing house founded in 1930. Acquired by
Éditions Gallimard in 1951, it publishes collections spanning
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
,
non-fiction and
comic books
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
. It published some of the most important French authors of the interwar period, including
Louis-Ferdinand Céline,
Louis Aragon and
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...
.
History
In
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
the
Belgian Robert Denoël and the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Bernard Steele (1902–1979), founded Éditions Denoël-Steele, later shortened to Éditions Denoël.
:228 It had its first success in
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
with Céline's ''
Voyage au bout de la nuit''. Other early success include
Louis Aragon's ''Les Cloches de Bâle'' (1934),
Antonin Artaud's ''Héliogabale ou l'anarchiste couronné'' (1934) and Céline's ''Mort à crédit'' (
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
).
Denoël can be considered unusual in respect to its diverse choice of publications. Until May 1940, for example, it published an Anti-German political
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
as well as the
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
pamphlets of Céline and Lucien Rebatet. Bernard Steele left the company because of Céline's pamphlet ''Mea culpa'' (1936). Robert Denoël was "openly supportive of Nazi Germany" and the company was known for its collaborationism during the German occupation of Paris. The company received capital from the Germans and published pro-Nazi books, including "anti-Semitic manuals [ . . . ], a collection of Hitler's speeches, and the two most famous anti-Semitic literary works of the time: a new edition of Céline's ''Bagatelles pour un massacre'' (1937) and Lucien Rebatet's ''Les Déscombres".''
During those same years, however, they also advertised "well-known authors of the left" and published the works of the Jewish author Elsa Triolet.
Denoël was murdered on 2 December 1945 while changing a wheel on his car.
The circumstances surrounding his death were mysterious, and it was "possible that he was assassinated for political reasons";
the police officially listed it as a "random crime of violence".
Following his death, Denoël's mistress, Jeanne Loviton, became the legal owner of the company.
In 1951 she sold a 90 percent stake of the company to Gaston Gallimard, "Denoël's arch enemy and publishing rival".
Nowadays, Éditions Denoël publishes around one hundred titles per year. Among the most famous authors published by Éditions Denoël are Sébastien Japrisot, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Michael Moorcock and Jeanne Benameur. In 2004, Denoël published ''Suite française (Némirovsky novel), Suite française'', which became a publishing sensation. The novel won the Prix Renaudot for 2004, the first time that the prize has been awarded posthumously. From 2006 in literature, 2006, then editor Olivier Rubinstein also published the literary review ''Le Meilleur des mondes#Le Meilleur des mondes, Le Meilleur des mondes''.
References
External links
Official siteSite for ''Le Meilleur des Mondes''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Editions Denoel
Book publishing companies of France
French speculative fiction publishers