Jean-Louis Bory (25 June 1919 – 11/12 June 1979) was a French

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

Life

Jean-Louis Bory was born on 25 June 1919 in

Méréville, Essonne Méréville is a former Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France (region), Île-de-France in northern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Le Mérévillois.

. The son of a pharmacist and a teacher, he came from a family of teachers. With an atheist father and a non-practicing mother, religion played a minor role in his development. It was rather the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

that formed his character. A brilliant student at

Étampes Étampes () is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department. Étampes, together with the neighboring c ...

, he entered the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges (''lycées'') in France. The school educates more than ...

. Just when he was ready to enter the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1939, he was called up for military service. Returning to the

Latin Quarter The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros ...

in October 1942, he passed his '' agrégation des lettres'' examinations in July 1945. Two months later,

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, wife of Camille Flammarion * Flammarion engraving by unknown artist; appeared in a book by C ...

published his first novel, ''Mon village à l'heure allemande'', which won the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

with the support of

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

. Its sales of 500,000 copies represented an exceptional success, even as he was assigned a position in

Haguenau Haguenau (; Alsatian: or ; and historically in English: ''Hagenaw'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, some to the south. To the ...

in the province of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

. The money enabled him to buy from the Countess Cally, his aunt, the property his grandparents has acquired in 1880 in Méréville. It was known as "Villa des Iris", and he renamed it "La Calife" or "The Caliph". His second book (''Dear Agle'', 1947) proved less successful. In 1948 he was assigned to the Paris region and was able to collaborate at the ''La Gazette des Lettres'' with Robert Kanters,

Paul Guth Paul Guth (5 March 1910 – 29 October 1997) was a French humorist, journalist and writer, and the President of the ''Académie des provinces françaises''. A novelist, essayist, columnist, memoirist, historian, pamphleteer, he distinguished ...

and

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Priz ...

. Politically, he was of that generation disappointed that there was no development from "resistance movement to revolution." He was even solicited by

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

to join the CPF. But he preferred to limit his membership to quasi-communist groups like the pacifist Mouvement de la Paix, the National Writers Association, and the France-USSR Association. Appointed to the Lycée Voltaire in 1950, he made his debut as a journalism in 1952 in ''Samedi Soir''. But in 1955, he chose to follow his friend Francis Erval to ''L'Express'', which was the mouthpiece of

Pierre Mendès France Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (; 11 January 190718 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a co ...

, to whose politics he was increasingly attracted. Moreover, in 1956, he broke with the

Communists 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 so ...

Soviet intervention in Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

against which he signed a petition with

Edgar Morin Edgar Morin (; ; born Edgar Nahoum; 8 July 1921) is a French philosopher and sociologist of the theory of information who has been recognized for his work on complexity and "complex thought" ( pensée complexe), and for his scholarly contributio ...

, Gilles Martinet,

Jean-Marie Domenach Jean-Marie Domenach (; 13 February 1922 – 5 July 1997) was a French writer and intellectual. He was noted as a left-wing and Catholic thinker. Domenach was born in Lyon, where he studied at the Lycée du Parc. In 1957, he took over the editors ...

, and Georges Suffert.''France Observateur'', 8 November 1956 He also resigned from the Honorary Committee of the Association France-USSR. This did not prevent him from promoting its third-world anti-colonialist positions. Thus, in 1960, when his editor Rene Julliard proposed he sign 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 ...

'', he did not hesitate and found himself suspended from the professorship he had held at the

since 1957. He was reinstated after a few months, but this event marked a rupture in his relationship with the teaching profession for which he had always had the utmost respect. His students gave him a great deal of satisfaction, and it was not uncommon to hear the cry of joy "Mom, I've got Bory", as

Michel Cournot Michel Cournot (1 May 1922 – 8 February 2007) was a French journalist, screenwriter and film director. As a writer he was awarded the Fénéon Prize in 1949 for ''Martinique''. His only film as a director, '' Les Gauloises bleues'', was ...

remembered according to an article published after Bory's death in the ''Nouvel Observateur''. In 1957, he joined the editorial board of the ''Cahiers des saisons'', where he published short literary texts. In 1961, he replaced

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

as a film critic for the weekly ''Arts''. The following year, he gave up teaching and his work at ''La Gazette des Lettres'' to devote himself to journalism and literature. His attempt to relaunch his literary career with ''L’Odeur de l'herbe'' (Julliard, 1962) was not a success. But joining the broadcasts of the program ''Le Masque et la Plume'' in 1964 provided him with an audience that contributed to his success as a citic. At the end 1964, out of loyalty to François Erval, he ceased his collaboration with ''L'Express''. In January 1965, Guy Dumur offered him the opportunity to continue his literary criticism in ''Nouvel Observateur''. There he rehabilitated

Louis-Ferdinand Céline Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches (27 May 1894 – 1 July 1961), better known by the pen name Louis-Ferdinand Céline ( , ) was a French novelist, polemicist and physician. His first novel ''Journey to the End of the Night'' (1932) won the ''Pri ...

before making friends with

Paul Morand Paul Morand (13 March 1888 – 24 July 1976) was a French author whose short stories and novellas were lauded for their style, wit and descriptive power. His most productive literary period was the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s. He was mu ...

and

Jacques Chardonne Jacques Chardonne (born ''Jacques Boutelleau''; 2 January 1884, in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, Charente – 29 May 1968, in La Frette-sur-Seine) is the pseudonym of French writer Jacques Boutelleau. He was a member of the so-called Groupe de Barbe ...

. And the group he gathered in Méréville in 1964/1965

François Nourissier François Nourissier (Paris, 18 May 1927–Paris, 15 February 2011) was a French journalist and writer. Nourissier was the secretary-general of Éditions Denoël (1952–1955), editor of the review ''La Parisienne'' (1955–1958), and an adviser ...

Hervé Bazin Hervé Bazin (; 17 April 191117 February 1996) was a French writer, whose best-known novels covered semi-autobiographical topics of teenage rebellion and dysfunctional families. Biography Bazin, born Jean-Pierre Hervé-Bazin in Angers, Maine-e ...

Jean d'Ormesson Count Jean Bruno Wladimir François de Paule Le Fèvre d'Ormesson (16 June 1925 – 5 December 2017) was a French novelist. He was the author of forty books, the director of '' Le Figaro'' from 1974 to 1979, and the Dean of the Académie français ...

, Georges Suffert,

Louis Pauwels Louis Pauwels (; 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer. Born in Paris, France, he wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including ''Esprit'' and ''Variété'') until the 1950s. He partic ...

marked a turn to the right. His friendship spectrum was very broad but did not restrict his work load. Starting in November 1966 he replaced

as film critic at ''Nouvel Observateur''. He ended his work for ''Arts'' he effectively became its film critic without actually working there. Famous for the jousting between him and Georges Charensol, and Aubria Michel (alias of Pierre Vallières) at ''Masque et la plume'', he defended the cinema of the Third World, especially African and Arab. He also appeared as the most influential art critic of the Latin Quarter's "Art et Essais" circuit. But his enthusiasm peaked in May 1968 when he was among leaders who stopped the Cannes Film Festival, where he was board member one year earlier. This did not prevent him from being a member of the Selection Committee from 1970 to 1973 nor from playing a major role at the festival of La Rochelle. He visited the offices of ''Nouvel Observateur'' only to drop off his articles. He did not inject himself into the paper's decisions that he finds politically questionable. He phoned John Daniel regularly to comment on an editorial. He argued on behalf of the Palestinian cause that he thought was not defended as it should be. He spoke up for films that were avant-garde or shocking or devoted to questioning society, its institutions and traditional values. Aside from explicitly political films that he supported irrespective of artistic considerations, he defended films he valued not so much for their subject matter as for their subversion of traditional film language. Godard,

Robbe-Grillet Robbe-Grillet is a compound surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922–2008), French writer and filmmaker * Catherine Robbe-Grillet Catherine Robbe-Grillet (; ''née'' Rstakian; born 24 September 1930) is ...

, Resnais,

Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

, Duras and the

Taviani brothers Paolo Taviani (; born 8 November 1931) and Vittorio Taviani (; 20 September 1929 – 15 April 2018), collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on film productions. At the C ...

were filmmakers who are close to his heart. Defender of an "alternative" culture, he was often aggressive towards films of the "Boulevard", made for mere entertainment or wide distribution, those that did not challenge the taboos of morality and social life or our habits of seeing and thinking. His contempt for the films of

Michel Audiard Paul Michel Audiard (; 15 May 1920 – 27 July 1985) was a French screenwriter and film director, known for his witty, irreverent and slang-laden dialogues which made him a prominent figure on the French cultural scene of the 1960s and 1970s. He ...

Bourvil André Robert Raimbourg (; 27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil (), and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis ...

and

Louis de Funès Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. He is France's favourite actor, according to a series of polls conducted since the late 1960s, having played over 150 roles in fil ...

, which he considered bourgeois, matched his view of films like those of

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International Fi ...

exalting, according to Bory, bourgeois values, money and ambitionor those of

Claude Lelouch Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, screenwriter, writer, cinematographer, actor and film producer, producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish Family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1 ...

, featuring characters socially "arrived" and thus legitimating them. But if this freedom allowed him to devote his "chronicle of a film that will be seen neither by the author nor by im, it justified his very stingy wages. He considered the pledge Safer latter. As management was sorry to see him systematically ignore the big budget movies and those popular with the general public, it exerted a gentle pressure by creating a less militant competitor. But he is not really worried in 1972 and refuses to respond to the warm invitation of

to work for ''Point''. Instead, he brought Michel Grisolia to help prepare small notes. The 1970s were marked by his fight for homosexuals. This is reflected in his autobiographical works, ''The Skin of zebras'' in 1969 and ''All Born of Woman'' in 1976, but especially in ''My Half of Orange'' in (1973), a public success with sales of 50,000 copies in which he publicly announced his homosexuality. He appeared in the local gay association ''Arcadia'', making his first conference. He then argued in his division leftism, FHAR, one of whose members, Hocquenghem, became Bory's co-author of ''How do you call us already?''. He ended at the Homosexual Liberation Group, always opposing those traditional constraints that weight most heavily on the working class and the marginalised. Parallel to this fight, he published several essays on the popular novel, such as ''Eugene Sue, dandy and Socialist'' in 1973, and a historical essay ''The Revolution of July or the Three Glorious Days'', in 1972. But his main success at this point in his career was ''Feet'', which appeared in 1976 and sold over 100,000 copies. In this fantasy novel, he challenged some of the intelligentsia such as

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

and

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

. Falling into a deep depression in August 1977, he re-emerged during a remission period that lasted from October 1978 to February 1979 and offered him the opportunity to publish an amusing portrait of ''Cambaceres'' in 1978. He died by suicide in Méréville during the night of 11 June 1979.

Works

* ''Mon village à l'heure allemande'', Flammarion, 1945. * ''Fragile ou le panier d'œufs'', Flammarion, 1950. * ''Pour Balzac et quelques autres'', éditions Julliard, 1960. * ''Eugène Sue, dandy et socialiste'', Hachette, 1962. * ''L'Odeur de l'herbe'', Julliard, 1962. * ''La Peau des zèbres'', Gallimard, 1969. * ''Cinéma I : Des yeux pour voir'', 10/18, 1971. * ''La Révolution de juillet'', Gallimard, 1972. * ''Cinéma II : La Nuit complice'', 10/18, 1972. * ''Cinéma III : Ombre vive'', 10/18, 1973. * ''Questions au cinéma'' (Editions Stock, 1973) * ''Ma moitié d'orange'' (première publication en 1973 in ''Idéee fixe'' Julliard) republished "Classiques H&O poche", Béziers : H&O, 2005, 128 pages. () * ''Cinéma IV : L'Ecran fertile'', 10/18, 1974. * ''Cinéma V : La Lumière écrit'', 10/18, 1975. * ''Tous nés d'une femme'', Gallimard, 1976. * ''Cinéma VI : L'Obstacle et la gerbe'', 10/18, 1976. * ''Cinéma VII : Rectangle multiple'', 10/18, 1977. * "Vivre à midi", in ''Comment nous appelez-vous déjà ? ou ces garçons que l'on dit homosexuels'', with Guy Hocquenghem, Calmann-Lévy, 1977. * ''Le Pied'', Belfond, 1977. * ''Un prix d'excellence'', Gallimard, 1986.

Biographies

* Daniel Garcia, ''Jean-Louis Bory, 1919–1979'', Flammarion, 1979 (réédition en 2009). * Marie-Claude Jardin, ''Jean-Louis Bory'', Belfond, 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bory, Jean-Louis 1919 births 1979 deaths People from Essonne Writers from Île-de-France French film critics French male journalists LGBT rights activists from France Lycée Henri-IV alumni Prix Goncourt winners French male non-fiction writers Lycée Henri-IV teachers Lycée Voltaire (Paris) teachers 20th-century French journalists 1979 suicides 20th-century French male writers Suicides by firearm in France

Life

Works

Biographies

See also

References