Jacques Bens (25 March 1931 – 26 July 2001) was a French writer and poet.

Biography

Born of teacher-parents at Cadolive, Jacques Bens spent his childhood and his youth in Marseilles, where his studies in zoology were interrupted in 1951 for health reasons. He became the son-in-law of

Célestin Freinet Célestin Freinet (, 15 October 1896 in Gars, Alpes-Maritimes – 8 October 1966 in Vence) was a noted French pedagogue and educational reformer. Early life Freinet was born in Provence as the fifth of eight children. His own schoolday ...

, collaborated with the

Freinet Modern School Movement {{Other uses, Modern School (disambiguation){{!Modern School The Modern School Movement (French: Mouvement de l'École Moderne) is the community of teachers who follow the educational and social practices of Célestin Freinet, his wife Élise an ...

and worked at the Coopérative de l'enseignement secaire (CEL). Jacques Bens worked from 1960 to 1963 under the direction of Raymond Queneau at the

Encyclopédie de la Pléiade The Pléiade encyclopedia (fr:Encyclopédie de la Pléiade) is a collection of Éditions Gallimard, publishing encyclopedic-type scientific texts on major fields of knowledge. It is part of the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, of which it takes the f ...

. ''Dataire'' of the College of

'Pataphysics Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of ima ...

; Bens was a co-founder member of the

Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...

, participated on 24 November 1960 with

Claude Berge Claude Jacques Berge (5 June 1926 – 30 June 2002) was a French mathematician, recognized as one of the modern founders of combinatorics and graph theory. Biography and professional history Claude Berge's parents were André Berge and Geneviève ...

François Le Lionnais François Le Lionnais (3 October 1901 – 13 March 1984) was a French chemical engineer and writer. He was a co-founder of the literary movement Oulipo. Biography Le Lionnais was born in Paris on 3 October 1901. Trained as a chemical engi ...

Jean Lescure Jean Lescure (14 September 1912 – 17 October 2005) was a French poet. Biography Lescure was born in Asnières-sur-Seine. In 1938, he published his first plaquette of poems, "Le voyage immobile", and launched the review "Messages" (two issue ...

, Raymond Queneau and

Jean Queval Jean Queval (1913–1990) was a French translator, writer, journalist, film critic and founding member of Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', styliz ...

at the first meeting of which he was definitively appointed provisional secretary. In 1963, Jacques Bens returned to the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

, where he was responsible for various publishing works and then relations with the press of the Théâtre de Nice (1972–1975). In 1975 he returned to Paris and took part in Jacques Duchateau's '' Panorama '' of

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes (including debates, discussions, and documentari ...

and other programmes such as '. Between 1980 and 1991, he was general secretary of the

Société des gens de lettres Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

and held the crossword heading of ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' and '' Lire''.

Works

Jacques Bens himself collected his books under different sections: « prose rimée » (poetry), « prose romanesque » (novels), « prose méditative » (reflexions), « prose didactique » (essays), « prose dramatique » (theatre and radio) and « prose secrétariale » (séessuibs of the Oulipo). He is also the author of the introduction of the collection of the pedagogical works of his famous father-in-law,

. (''Œuvres pédagogiques de Célestin Freinet'',

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as ''Le Seuil'', is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' ...

, 1994.) ;« Prose rimée » (poems) *1958: ''Chanson vécue'', collection Métamorphoses,

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

, 104 p. (

Prix Fénéon The Fénéon Prize (''Prix Fénéon''), established in 1949, is awarded annually to a French-language writer and a visual artist no older than 35 years of age. The prize was established by Fanny Fénéon, the widow of French art critic Félix Fén� ...

) *1962: ''41 sonnets irrationnels'', Gallimard *1966: ''Le Retour au pays'', Gallimard *1967: ''Métagrammes'' *1968: ''Petites prophéties populaires'' *1978: ''Onzains incertains'', texte autographié, , Paris, 25 p. *2004: 'De l'Oulipo et de la Chandelle verte'', complete poetry, preface by

Jacques Roubaud Jacques Roubaud (; born 5 December 1932 in Caluire-et-Cuire, Rhône) is a French poet, writer and mathematician Life and career Jacques Roubaud taught Mathematics at University of Paris X Nanterre and Poetry at EHESS. A member of the Oulipo gr ...

, edition by François Caradec, Gallimard, ;''Prose romanesque'' (novels and short stories) *1958: ''Valentin'', Gallimard *1959: ''La Plume et l'ange'', Gallimard *1962: ''Sept jours de liberté'', short stories, Gallimard *1962: ''La Trinité'', Gallimard *1969: ''Adieu Sidonie'', Gallimard *1976: ''Rouge grenade'',

Éditions Grasset The Grasset Editions () is a French publishing house founded in 1907 by (1881–1955). History Founder In 1913, Bernard Grasset publishes the first volume of ''À la recherche du temps perdu'', by Marcel Proust, '' Du côté de chez Swann'', ...

, *1979: ''Rendez-vous chez François'', Bibliothèque oulipienne *1979: ''Le Pain perdu'', with twenty etchings of Proscynska, by the artist *1983: ''Cinq châteaux de cartes'', series " Arc-en-Poche", Nathan, (Prix Jean Macé) *1986: ''Gaspard de Besse'', Ramsay, (Goncourt du Récit historique) *1988: ''Nouvelles des enchanteurs'', Ramsay, *1990: ''Nouvelles désenchantées'', Seghers,, 224 p. (Goncourt de la Nouvelle) *1994: ''Les Dames d'onze heures'',

Éditions Julliard Éditions Julliard is a French publishing house. It was founded in 1942 by René Julliard. Julliard was known as a discoverer and publisher of talents, in particular Françoise Sagan and Jean d'Ormesson. After Julliard's death in July 1962, the ...

, 168 p. *1997:''La Belle Étoile'', Atelier du Gué *1998:''Lente sortie de l'ombre'',

Stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

;« Prose méditative » (réflexions) *1975: ''Pense-bête'' *1989: ''La Cinquantaine à Saint-Quentin'', Seghers *1997: ''Quarante-neuf questions pour essayer de comprendre le monde'', Les Guère Épais, Plurielle *2000: ''12 maximes fin de siècle'', Atelier-Musée Livre & Typographie ;« Prose didactique » (essays) *1962: ''Queneau'', Bibliothèque idéale, Gallimard *1967: ''Guide des jeux d'esprit'',

Albin Michel Albin may refer to: Places * Albin, Wyoming, US * Albin Township, Brown County, Minnesota, US * Albin, Virginia, US People * Albin (given name), origin of the name and people with the first name "Albin" * Albin (surname) ;Mononyms * Albin of ...

*1976: ''

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...

'', Présence littéraire, Bordas *1979: ''La Semence d'Horus (Contes de l'Égypte des Pharaons)'', Garnier Frères, *1992: ''Ginkgo biloba, l'arbre aux quarante écus'', SEMAPA *1994: ''Marcel Pagnol'', Écrivains de toujours,

;« Prose dramatique » (theatre and radio) *1973: ''Les Frelons'', after

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

, Comédy by Saint-Étienne *1986: ''Les Vaudois'',

*1987: ''Geoffroy Tête noire à Ventadour'', Festival de la Luzège *1989: ''Une si jolie maison dans le soleil levant'', Radio France *1989: ''La Guerre aux étangs'', Festival de la Luzège ;« Prose secrétariale » (sessions of the Oulipo). *1980: ''Oulipo, 1960-1963'', Christian Bourgois ; ''L'Oulipo, genesis of the Oulipo, 1960-1963'', revised and expanded edition, presented by Jacques Duchateau, , 2005 ;Trivia *1998: ''La cuisine en jeux'', *1999: ''Mots croisés I'' and ''II'', Zulma ;Posthumous publications *''Jacques Bens, textes inédits'' 'Raymond Queneau et la littérature potentielle'', ''Pour une potentialité nouvelle'' in ''Cahiers Raymond Queneau'', Association des amis de Valentin Brû, éditions Calliopées, Clamart, 2011, (p. 49-64)

Bibliography

*Camille Bloomfield, ''Un Oulipo potentiel : quand Queneau corrige Bens'', dans ''Ouvroirs'', Revue d'études sur Raymond Queneau, (p. 56-57), Association des amis de Valentin Brû, December 2009, (pp. 43–56)

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'' (1 August 2001)
Jacques Bens
on

Cairn.info Cairn.info is a French-language web portal, founded in 2005, containing scholarly materials in the humanities and social sciences. Much of the collection is in French, but it also includes an English-language international interface to facilita ...

Bibliography
on Fatrazie
Jacques Bens : Pagnol
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Bens, Jacques 20th-century French male writers Pataphysicians 20th-century French poets Prix Fénéon winners Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle recipients Oulipo members People from Bouches-du-Rhône Crossword compilers 1931 births 2001 deaths

Biography

Works

Bibliography

See also

External links