Marcel Jouhandeau (July 26, 1888

Guéret Guéret (; Occitan: ''Garait'') is a commune and the prefecture of the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography Guéret is a light industrial town, the largest in the department, with a big woodland a ...

– April 7, 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, ...

Biography

Born in

Creuse Creuse (; oc, Cruesa or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the ea ...

, France, Marcel Jouhandeau grew up in a world of women presided over by his grandmother. Under the influence of a young woman from the Carmel of

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

, he embraced a spiritual form of

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and considered entering the orders for a time. However, in 1908 he left for Paris where he studied first at the Lycée Henri-IV, and then at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, where he began to write. In 1912 he became a professor at a school at Passy. In his youth, Marcel Jouhandeau began experiencing homosexual urges. Although he felt guilty and believed he was offending God, his feelings of shame did not prevent him from engaging in numerous homosexual acts. Throughout his life, Jouhandeau alternated between celebrating the male body and feeling mortified in regards to his sexuality. In 1914, during a spiritual crisis, he burned his manuscripts and attempted suicide. Once the crisis had passed, he turned again to writing. He created ''Pincegrain'', the village chronicles that brought him his first literary success. During World War I, he was a secretary in his hometown of Guéret. In 1924, he published ''Pincegrain'', a chronicle of the inhabitants of Guéret, which shocked the people of the town. His voyages became an opportunity to indulge in homosexuality, as he recounted in the ''Amateur d'imprudences''. At age 40, he married a dancer, Élisabeth (Elise) Toulemont, known as Caryathis, the former mistress of

Charles Dullin Charles Dullin (; 8 May 1885 – 11 December 1949) was a French actor, theater manager and director. Career Dullin began his career as an actor in melodrama:185 In 1908, he started his first troupe with Saturnin Fabre, the ''Théâtre de Foire ...

and an intimate friend of

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

and Max Jacob. She hoped to rid him of his homosexual leanings. During this period he undertook a work of Christian moralism (''De l'abjection'') before, much to the dismay of his wife, tumbling again into the arms of men, which he wrote about in ''Chronique d'une passion'', ''Eloge de la volupté'' and ''Tirésias''. Nevertheless, Jouhandeau and his wife adopted a girl named Céline, who gave birth to Jouhandeau's grandson, Marc. Following Élise's death in 1971, Jouhandeau lived his last days in

Rueil-Malmaison Rueil-Malmaison () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 78,152. It is one of the wealthiest suburbs of ...

with Marc. In 1938, Jouhandeau published four

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

articles in a short volume, "Le Péril Juif" (The Jewish Peril). During the Nazi occupation of France, he accepted Goebbels' invitation to visit Germany. David M. Halperin, ''What Do Gay Men Want?: An Essay on Sex, Risk, and Subjectivity'', Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2007, p. 71.

Bibliography

* La jeunesse de Théophile (1921) * Les Pincengrain (1924) * Prudence Hautechaume (1927) * Monsieur Godeau intime (1926) * L'amateur d'imprudences (1932) * Monsieur Godeau marié (1933) * Chaminadour (1934-1941) * Algèbre des valeurs morales (1935) * Le Peril Juif, Editions Sorlot, 1938. * Chroniques maritales (1938) * De l'abjection (1939) * Essai sur moi-même (1947) * Scènes de la vie conjugale (1948) * Mémorial (1948) * La faute plutôt que le scandale (1949) * Chronique d'une passion (1949) * Eloge de la volupté (1951) * Dernières années et mort de Véronique (1953) * Contes d'enfer (1955) * Léonara ou les dangers de la vertu (1955) * Carnets de l'écrivain (1957) * L'école des filles (1960) * Journaliers (1961-1978) * Les instantanés de la mémoire (1962) * Trois crimes rituels (1962) * Le Pur Amour (1970) * Pages égarées (1980)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jouhandeau, Marcel 1888 births 1979 deaths People from Guéret French collaborators with Nazi Germany People affiliated with Action Française 20th-century French novelists French diarists French gay writers Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Lycée Henri-IV alumni 20th-century French male writers