Dionys Mascolo (11 February 1916 - 20 August 1997) was a French
literary editor A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. , resistance fighter, left-wing political activist, author, and former husband of
Marguerite Duras.
Life and work
Born into a family of Italian immigrants, Mascolo worked at several small jobs when he found himself in charge of a family after his father's death. Shortly before the
German occupation of France,
Gaston Gallimard
Gaston Gallimard (; 18 January 1881 – 25 December 1975) was a French publisher.
He founded ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' in 1908, together with André Gide and Jean Schlumberger (writer), Jean Schlumberger.
In 1911 the trio established La N ...
hired him as a
publisher's reader for his publishing house ''
Éditions Gallimard''. There he met, among others,
Marguerite Duras and her later husband
Robert Antelme
Robert Antelme (5 January 1917, Sartène, Corse-du-Sud – 26 October 1990) was a French writer. During the Second World War he was involved in the French Resistance and deported.
In 1939 he married Marguerite Duras. Their child died at birth in 1 ...
.
With them, Mascolo then founded the ''groupe de la rue Saint-Benoît'' and thus joined the
Résistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
under
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
using the ''
nom du guerre'' Lieutenant Masse. After the
liberation of France, he returned to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
with
Edgar Morin, among others. The following year, Mascolo joined the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...
(PCF), but was expelled again in 1949 for his "behavior detrimental to the party".
Shortly after Marguerite Duras divorced Robert Antelme in 1947, she married Mascolo in Paris. The two had a son, Jean, in 1947 and separated again as early as 1956.
When French President
René Coty
Jules Gustave René Coty (; 20 March 188222 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic.
Early life and politics
René Coty was born in Le Havre and studied at th ...
nominated
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
as prime minister in 1958, Mascolo founded together with
Jean Schuster
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Je ...
the journal ''Le 14 juillet''; as a mouthpiece of a strengthening
Anti-Gaullism. A vehement opponent of French
colonial policy
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 ...
, especially the
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, Mascolo was among the signatories of the
Manifesto of the 121 The Manifesto of the 121 (french: Manifeste des 121, full title: ''Déclaration sur le droit à l’insoumission dans la guerre d’Algérie'' or ''Declaration on the right of insubordination in the Algerian War'') was an open letter signed by 121 i ...
in September 1960.
Reception
As a writer, Mascolo was very much concerned with
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
and
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just; he was also interested in the role of
intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
s, for example, in
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
Works
* ''Le communisme. Révolution et communication ou la dialectique des valeurs et des besoins''. Gallimard, Paris 1953.
* ''Lettere polonaise. Sur la misère intellectuelle en France''. Éditions de Minuit, Paris 1957.
* ''Autour d'un effort de mémoire. Sur un lettre de Robert Anthelme''. Édition Nadeau, Paris 1987.
* ''De l'amour.'' Éditions Benoît Jacab, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-913645-02-X.
* ''Haine de la philosophie.
Heidegger pour modèle''. Jean-Michel Place, Paris 1993, ISBN 2-85893-190-9.
* With
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
and
Bernard Pingaud
Bernard Pingaud (12 October 1923 – 25 February 2020) was a French writer.
Biography
Pingaud studied at the Lycée Pasteur de Neuilly in Neuilly-sur-Seine and Lycée Henri IV in Paris. In 1943, he enrolled at the École normale supérieure, and ...
: ''Du rôle de l'intellectuel dans le mouvement révolutionnaire''. Losfeld, Paris 1971.
* ''A la recherche d'un communisme de pensée. Entêtements''. Éditions Fourbis, Paris 1993, ISBN 2-907374-63-X.
* ''sur le sens et l'usage du mot "gauche". Suivi de contre les idéologies de la mauvaise conscience''. Nouvelles Éditions Lignes, Fécamps 2011, ISBN 978-2-35526-083-4.
References
Further reading
* Juan José Alvarez: ''Maurice Blanchot, "Sur une approche du communisme".'' In: ''L'amitié.'' Issue 107, 1971, pp. 109–114.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mascolo, Dionys
20th-century French male writers
1916 births
1997 deaths
French people of Italian descent