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René Émile Char (; 14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988) was a French poet and member of the
French Resistance 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 ...
.


Biography

Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the
Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019. the youngest of the four children of Emile Char and Marie-Thérèse Rouget, where his father was mayor and managing director of the Vaucluse plasterworks. He spent his childhood in Névons, the substantial family home completed at his birth, then studied as a boarder at the school of
Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune had ...
and subsequently, in 1925, a student at ''L'École de Commerce de Marseille'', where he read
Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
,
François Villon François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these e ...
,
Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...
, the German Romantics,
Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to which he never r ...
,
Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les ...
and
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fr ...
. He was tall (1.92 m) and was an active
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
player. After briefly working at Cavaillon, in 1927 he performed his military service in the artillery in
Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...
. His first book, ''Cloches sur le cœur'', was published in 1928 as a compilation of poems written between 1922 and 1926. In early 1929, he founded the journal ''Méridiens'' with André Cayatte and published three issues. In August, he sent twenty-six copies of his book ''Arsenal'', published in Nîmes, to
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
, who in the autumn came to visit him at L'Isle sur la Sorgue. In late November, Char moved to Paris, where he met
Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...
,
André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
, and René Crevel, and joined the surrealists. His "''Profession de foi du sujet''" was published in December in the twelfth issue of ''La Révolution surréaliste''. He remained active in the surrealist movement through the early 1930s but distanced himself gradually from the mid-1930s onward. Throughout his career, Char's work appeared in various editions, often with artwork by notable figures, including Kandinsky,
Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...
, Miró,
Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primar ...
and
Vieira da Silva Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (13 June 1908 – 6 March 1992) was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel. Her works feature complex interiors and c ...
. Char joined the
French Resistance 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 ...
in 1940, serving under the name of Captain Alexandre, where he commanded the
Durance The Durance (; ''Durença'' in the Occitan classical norm or ''Durènço'' in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is .atomic weapons in
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
. He died of a heart attack in 1988 in Paris. The Hotel Campredon (also known as the Maison René Char) in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was a public collection of his manuscripts, drawings, paintings and objets d'art, until 2016. Char was a friend and close associate of the writers
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 ...
,
Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels ...
and Maurice Blanchot, and of the artists
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...
and Victor Brauner. He was to have been in the car involved in the accident that killed both Camus and Michel Gallimard, but there was not enough room, and returned instead that day by train to Paris. The composer
Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mo ...
wrote three settings of Char's poetry, ''
Le Soleil des eaux ''Le Soleil des eaux'' (''The Sun of Waters'') is a two-movement cantata for soprano, choir and orchestra by Pierre Boulez, based on two poems by René Char, and having a total duration of about nine minutes. Background Boulez first encountered Ch ...
'', '' Le Visage nuptial'', and '' Le Marteau sans maître''. A late friendship developed also between Char and
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...
, who described Char's poetry as "a tour de force into the ineffable" and was repeatedly his guest at Le Thor in the
Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
and
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
) * ''Le Marteau sans maître'' (1934) * ''Moulin premier'' (1936) * ''Placard pour un chemin des écoliers'' (1937) * ''Dehors la nuit est gouvernée'' (1938) * ''Seuls demeurent'' (1945) * ''Feuillets d'Hypnos'' (1946) * ''Le Poème pulvérisé'' (1947) * ''Fureur et mystère'' (1948) * ''Les Matinaux'' (1950) *''Recherche de la base et du sommet'' (1955) * ''La Parole en archipel'' (1962) * ''L'Âge cassant'' (1965) * ''Dans la Pluie giboyeuse'' (1968) * ''Le Nu perdu'' (1971) * ''La Nuit talismanique'' (1972) * ''Le Bâton de rosier'' * ''Aromates chasseurs'' (1976) * ''Chants de la Balandrane'' (1977) * ''Fenêtres dormantes et porte sur le toit'' (1979) * ''Loin de nos cendres'' (1983) * ''Les voisinages de Van Gogh'' (1985) *''Éloge d'une soupçonnée'' (1988) Char's ''Œuvres complètes'' were published in the prestigious '' Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' ( Gallimard) in 1983 with an introduction by
Jean Roudaut Jean Roudaut (born 1 June 1929) is a French writer and professor of French literature who taught in the universities of Thessaloniki, Pisa, and Fribourg. He was born in Morlaix on 1 June 1929. Bibliography *1964: ''Michel Butor ou le livr ...
. An augmented posthumous re-edition appeared in 1995.


Translations

Among the poets to translate his hermetic works into English are William Carlos Williams,
Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...
, Richard Wilbur, James Wright,
John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...
, W. S. Merwin,
Cid Corman Cid (Sidney) Corman (June 29, 1924 – March 12, 2004) was an American poet, translator and editor, most notably of ''Origin'', who was a key figure in the history of American poetry in the second half of the 20th century. Life Corman was bor ...
,
Gustaf Sobin Gustaf Sobin (November 15, 1935 – July 7, 2005) was a U.S.-born poet and author who spent most of his adult life in France. Originally from Boston, Sobin attended the Choate School, Brown University, and moved to Paris in 1962. Eventually he set ...
,
Kevin Hart (poet) Kevin John Hart (born 5 July 1954) is an Anglo-Australian theologian, philosopher and poet. He is currently Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Studies and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Virginia. As a theologian ...
and
Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), '' The Book of Illusions'' (2002), '' The B ...
. Translators into German have included
Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, ...
and Peter Handke. Translators into Bulgarian include Georgi Mitzkov and Zlatozar Petrov.


See also

* ''Le Mondes 100 Books of the Century, a list which includes ''Fureur et mystère''


References


Selections in English

* * * * * * * * Char, René (1992). ''The Dawn Breakers.'' Translated by Michael Worton. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Bloodaxe Books. . * * * * Char, René (2010). ''Furor and Mystery & Other Writings.'' Translated by Mary Ann Caws; Nancy Kline. Boston, Massachusetts: Black Widow Press. . * * * Char, René (2014). ''Hypnos.'' Translated by Mark Hutchinson. Calcutta: Seagull Books & York, Pennsylvania: Maple Press. . * Char, René (2015). ''The Inventors and Other Poems.'' Translated by Mark Hutchinson. Calcutta: Seagull Books & York, Pennsylvania: Maple Press. .


Criticism

* * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


New Translations of Rene Char
by Nancy Naomi Carlson in ''Guernica'' magazine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Char, Rene 1907 births 1988 deaths 20th-century French poets French male poets French Resistance members 20th-century French male writers