Jean Venturini (17 September 1919 – 17 June 1940) was a French poet and sailor. He died at the age of 20 during the Second World War when his submarine was lost in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

Biography

Jean Venturini was born in Nabeul,

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and spent most of his childhood in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. In his teens, he studied at a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

near Meknes. He began writing poetry at the age of 16, poems which were later collected and published in November 1939 as '' Outlines''. This was to be his only published work. He was killed in June 1940, along with the entire crew of the submarine ''Morse'', which had struck a mine. He had trained as a signaller before joining the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

in 1939. ''Outlines'' is a collection of poems heavily influenced by the theories of poet

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

. With its themes and writing, this work is very close to the

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

aesthetic.See Collective work, ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises'', sixth volume : « Le xxe siècle », Paris, LGF-Le Livre de Poche, 1998, p. 1135.

Works

* '' Outlines'', collection of poems, Casablanca, ''Éditions du Moghreb'', November 1939, 80 p. * ''Outlines'' : reissue with a biographical afterword on the sinking of the submarine « Morse », Paris, Vaillant, June 2009, 112 p. () * Scattered poems, not collected : ** ''Ballade d'un qui part'', published in December 1939 by the review ''Fontaine'' ** ''Une Pierre dans l'eau'', published in May 1940 by the review ''Poésie 40'' ** ''Victime d'affiches'', unpublished manuscript poem, June 1940 (sent in a letter to a close friend)

Bibliography

* Pierre Seghers, ''Le Livre d'or de la Poésie française'', first volume : « Des origines à 1940 », Paris, Marabout, 1998, 488 p. () * Collective work, ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises'', sixth volume : « Le xxe siècle », Paris, LGF-Le Livre de Poche, 1998, 1174 p. () * « La mémoire engloutie », a study by Jean-Luc Falco, foreword to the reissue of ''Outlines'' * Collective work, ''Anthologie des écrivains morts à la guerre'', 1939-1945, Paris, Albin Michel, 1998, 808 p. ()

References

External links

Article « Jean Venturini, marin mort pour la France et poète » by Madeleine Kérisit

Monographie de Jean Venturini, inspired by Madeleine Kérisit, on website ''Mémorial national aux marins morts pour la France''

Homepage of the website ''Aux Marins''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venturini, Jean Surrealist poets French sailors 1919 births 1940 deaths 20th-century French poets French male poets French Navy personnel of World War II French military personnel killed in World War II 20th-century French male writers

Biography

Works

Bibliography

See also

References

External links