Henry Bordeaux (25 January 1870 – 29 March 1963) was a French writer and lawyer. Bordeaux came from a family of lawyers of

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

. He was born in

Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is ...

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...

. His grandfather was a magistrate and his father served on the

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...

bar. During his early life, he relocated between Savoy and Paris and the tensions between provincial and city life influenced his writings. In his professional life he observed closely the dissolution of numerous families and analysed the causes and consequences of these. From the age of seventeen he spent three years in Paris studying law. Then he returned to practice law in Savoy. He returned to Paris after the publication of his first book during 1894. When his father died in 1896 he returned to Savoy. The writings of Bordeaux reflect the values of traditional provincial Catholic communities. One recurring theme is loyalty. Loyalty is pervasive, and it applies to family, country and God. This theme is particularly evidenced in the novels "La Peur de vivre" and "Les Roquevillard." Bordeaux was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

on 22 May 1919. This elite group of writers, popularly known as the "immortals," are responsible for establishing and maintaining the grammar, usage and acceptance of vocabulary into standard French. He was a contributor to ''Le Visage de l'Italie'', a 1929 book about Italy prefaced by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

. Bordeaux died in Paris in 1963.

Popular Culture

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

makes fun of Bordeaux in

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...

. "I have yet to meet a whore who doesn't know of Henry Bordeaux! . . . It seemed to me that I heard her say, 'quand il n'y aura plus de temps.' It sounded like that anyway. In the state I was in, a phrase like that was worth a hundred francs. I wondered if it was her own or if she had pulled it from Henry Bordeaux."

Bibliography

* ''Le Pays natal'' (1900) * ''La Peur de vivre'' (1902) * ''La Petite mademoiselle'' (1905) * ''Les Roquevillard'' (1906) * ''Les Yeux qui s’ouvrent'' (1908) * ''La Croisée des chemins'' (1909) * ''La Robe de laine'' (1910) * ''La Neige sur les pas'' (1911) * ''La Maison'' (1913) * ''Le Chevalier de l'air : Vie héroïque de Guynemer'', Plon (1918) * ''La Résurrection de la chair'' (1920) * ''Yamilé sous les cèdres'' (1923) * ''La Chartreuse du Reposoir'' (1924) * ''Le Cœur et le sang'' (1925) * ''Le Bouquet Rouge '' (1926) * ''La Revenante'' (1932) * ''Le Cœur de la Reine Hortense'' (1933)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux, Henry 1870 births 1963 deaths People from Thonon-les-Bains 19th-century French lawyers 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers Members of the Académie Française French male novelists