Jean-Claude Brisville (28 May 1922 – 11 August 2014) was a French writer, playwright, novelist and author for children. A screenwriter, in particular for the film ''
Beaumarchais, l'insolent'', he obtained the
Grand Prix du théâtre of the
Académie française in 1989 for all his body of work.
Recognition came later, in the same year, with ', a theatre play featuring
Joseph Fouché and
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord during an evening in 1815 when they decided together to impose a monarchical regime on invaded France. It was the film adaptation that
Édouard Molinaro
Édouard Molinaro (13 May 1928 – 7 December 2013) was a French film director and screenwriter.
Biography
He was born in Bordeaux, Gironde.
He is best known for his comedies with Louis de Funès (''Oscar'', '' Hibernatus''), '' My Uncle B ...
realized in 1992,
Claude Brasseur
Claude Brasseur (15 June 1936 – 22 December 2020) was a French actor.
Life and career
Claude Brasseur was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine as Claude Pierre Espinasse, the son of actor Pierre Brasseur and actress Odette Joyeux. He was the godson of E ...
taking the role of Fouché and
Claude Rich
Claude Rich (8 February 1929 – 20 July 2017) was a French stage and screen actor. He began his career in the theater before his film debut in 1955.
Personal life
He married actress Catherine Renaudin on 26 June 1959. They had two daughters, ...
that of Talleyrand, which made him discover by the general public.
Biography
The son of an industrialist
Jérôme Garcin
Jérôme Garcin (born 4 October 1956) is a French journalist and writer. He heads the cultural section of the ''Nouvel Observateur'', produces and hosts the radio program ' on France Inter, and is a member of the reading committee of the Com ...
Brisville : agent d'entretiens
L'Express, Paris, 31 August 1995. installed at
Asnières,
[François Busnel]
Entretien avec Jean-Claude Brisville
L'Express, Paris, 1 March 2006. Jean Claude Brisville, fed during his adolescence of the novels by ,
began his professional life at the Liberation of France as a literary journalist. An esteemed but confidential poet,
playwright and essayist,
he worked for the
Hachette Hachette may refer to:
* Hachette (surname)
* Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing
** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary
** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm
See also
* Hachett ...
publishing house then became a reader for the
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 ...
. In 1957, he wrote and published the first study about
Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...
who made him his last secretary until 1959.
[ R. Quilliot, ''Roger Quilliot fait le point'' in Albert Camus n°18, , '' Les Lettres Modernes'', Paris, 1999.] The family responsibilities made him renounce the risky profession of playwright and devote himself entirely to that of publisher.
In 1964, after he became a literary director, he made
Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''.
The son of a successful businessman and ...
known in France by publishing a new edition of the "Journal de guerre", thanks to the determination of
In 1970, he established a lasting friendship with
Julien Gracq
Julien Gracq (; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007; born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, in the French ''département'' of Maine-et-Loire) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were no ...
who accepted the adaptation he wrote for the television production that
Jean-Christophe Averty
Jean-Christophe Averty (; 6 August 1928 – 4 March 2017) was a French television and radio director, and Satrap of the College of 'Pataphysique.
Many of his television productions from the 1960s were early examples of French video art. His studi ...
did of the ''Beau Ténébreux''.
In 1976, he was appointed director of
Le Livre de Poche
Le Livre de Poche (literally "The Pocket Book") is the name of a collection of publications which first appeared on 9 February 1953 under the leadership of and published by the , a subsidiary of Hachette. In terms of its influence on the mainstr ...
. His dismissal in 1981 at the age of sixty, made him reconnect with his pen and settle his accounts with the medium of publishing in the form of a satirical piece, ''Le Fauteuil à bascule''
where an editor is opposed to an avid boss. The success of the play at the Petit Odéon and the
led him, after several failures with other creations,
to resume the process of dialogue between two characters, each incarnating a cause opposite to the other,
Descartes and
Blaise Pascal for reason and faith, the
marquise du Deffand
Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (25 September 1696 – 23 September 1780) was a French hostess and patron of the arts.
Life
Madame du Deffand was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolle ...
and
Julie de Lespinasse for the old and the modern,
Talleyrand and
Fouché for political genius and arrivism,
Napoléon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and
Hudson Lowe
Sir Hudson Lowe (28 July 176910 January 1844) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and colonial administrator who is best known for his time as Governor of St Helena, where he was the "gaoler" of the Emperor Napoléon.
Early life
The son of John Lowe, ...
for tragic destiny and honest pettiness. It is in ''
L'Antichambre'' that he expressed all his melancholy for a French language in the process of disappearance.
In 1984, he approached
René Char,
a brother in writing of Albert Camus. Starting in 1997, he began a work of "anamnesis"
"Not to be alien to oneself"
which he published, faithful to
existentialism
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...
, in the form of fragments of the past which related less to his person than to their times,
memories mixed with
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by ...
s with pessimistic humor.
Jean-Claude Brisville was a Chevalier of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
and Officier of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Works
Theatre
*1946: ''Les Emmurés'', three-act play, directed by Émile Dars,
Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
The Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier is a theatre located at 21, rue du Vieux-Colombier, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1913 by the theatre producer and playwright Jacques Copeau. Today it is one of the three theatres in Paris u ...
*1955: ''Saint-Just''
*1972: ''Le Rôdeur - Nora - Le Récital'', three 1-act plays with 3 characters (1970)
*1982: ''Le Fauteuil à bascule''
*1983: ''Le Bonheur à Romorantin''
*1985: ''
L'Entretien de M. Descartes avec M. Pascal le jeune''
*1986: ''La Villa bleue''
*1989: ''Le Souper''
*1991: ''L'Antichambre''
*1993: ''Contre-jour''
*1995: ''La Dernière Salve''
*2007: ''Sept comédies en quête d'acteurs''
Essays
*1948: ''Prologue''
*1954: ''La Présence réelle''
*1959: ''Camus'', la Bibliothèque idéale, NRF
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 ...
*1998: ''De mémoire'' (Souvenirs)
*2006: ''Quartiers d'hiver'' (Souvenirs)
*2009: ''Rien n'est jamais fini'' (Souvenirs)
Novels
*1954: ''D'un amour'',
Prix Sainte-Beuve The Prix Sainte-Beuve, established in 1946, is a French literary prize awarded each year to a writer in the categories "novels" (or "poetry") and "essays" (or "critics"); it is named after the writer Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve. The founding jury ...
*1962: ''La Fuite au Danemark''
*1972: ''La Petite Marie'', published by Gallimard, under the pseudonym Sylvain Saulnier)
*1976: ''La zone d'ombre''
*1982: ''La Révélation d'une voix et d'un nom''
*2002: ''Vive Henri IV''
Tales
*1975: ''Les Trèfle de Longue-Oreille. Première aventure : Petit Trèfle en péril'' (
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'' ...
Jeunesse)
*1975: ''Les Trèfle de Longue-Oreille. Deuxième aventure : Lançons le cerf-volant'' (Grasset Jeunesse)
*1975: ''Les Trèfle de Longue-Oreille. Troisième aventure : Et hop dans le chapeau'' (Grasset Jeunesse)
*1973: ''Un hiver dans la vie de Gros-Ours'' (Grasset Jeunesse)
*1977: ''L'Enfant qui voulait voir la mer'' (Jean-Pierre Delarge éditeur, Prix des 50 plus beaux livres 1977)
*1978: ''Oleg, le léopard des neiges'' (tale for children)
*1981: ''Le Ciel inévitable'', illustrations by (Éditions de l’amitié)
*1981: ''Oleg retrouve son royaume'' (tale for children)
Screenwriter
* 1970: ''La nuit se lève'' by (TV)
* 1984: ''Le Bonheur à Romorantin'' by Alain Dhénaut (TV)
* 1992: ''
The Supper
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' by
Édouard Molinaro
Édouard Molinaro (13 May 1928 – 7 December 2013) was a French film director and screenwriter.
Biography
He was born in Bordeaux, Gironde.
He is best known for his comedies with Louis de Funès (''Oscar'', '' Hibernatus''), '' My Uncle B ...
* 1996: ''
Beaumarchais, l'insolent'' by Édouard Molinaro after a play by
Sacha Guitry
;Actor
* ' by
Francis Girod
Francis Girod (9 October 1944 – 19 November 2006) was a French film director, actor, and screenwriter. He directed 20 films between 1974 and 2006. His film '' L'enfance de l'art'' was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. In 1994 h ...
References
External links
''Jean-Claude Brisville, une vie pour la littérature''on ''
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
'' (14 August 2014)
''Le Souper''Jean-Claude Brisvilleon Who's Who
Jean-Claude Brisvilleon L'Avant-scène théâtre
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brisville, Jean-Claude
20th-century French male writers
20th-century French dramatists and playwrights
French screenwriters
French children's writers
French publishers (people)
1922 births
People from Bois-Colombes
2014 deaths
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Prix Sainte-Beuve winners