Éditions Denoël is a French

publishing house Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

founded in 1930. Acquired by

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 G ...

in 1951, it publishes collections spanning

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

and

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

. It published some of the most important French authors of the interwar period, including Louis-Ferdinand Céline,

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

and

Antonin Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...

History

In 1930 the Belgian Robert Denoël and the American Bernard Steele (1902–1979), founded Éditions Denoël-Steele, later shortened to Éditions Denoël.^:228 It had its first success in 1932 with Céline's '' Voyage au bout de la nuit''. Other early success include Louis Aragon's ''Les Cloches de Bâle'' (1934), Antonin Artaud's ''Héliogabale ou l'anarchiste couronné'' (1934) and Céline's ''Mort à crédit'' (1936). Denoël can be considered unusual with respect to its diverse choice of publications. Until May 1940, for example, it published an anti-German political

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

as well as the

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

s of Céline and Lucien Rebatet. Bernard Steele left the company because of Céline's pamphlet ''Mea culpa'' (1936). Robert Denoël was "openly supportive of Nazi Germany" and the company was known for its

collaborationism Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th c ...

during the German occupation of Paris. The company received capital from the Germans and published pro-Nazi books, including "anti-Semitic manuals . . . a collection of Hitler's speeches, and the two most famous anti-Semitic literary works of the time: a new edition of Céline's ''Bagatelles pour un massacre'' (1937) and Lucien Rebatet's ''Les Déscombres".''^:161 During those same years, however, they also advertised "well-known authors of the left" and published the works of the Jewish author Elsa Triolet.^:161 Denoël was murdered on 2 December 1945 while changing a wheel on his car.^:xi The circumstances surrounding his death were mysterious, and it was "possible that he was assassinated for political reasons"; the police officially listed it as a "random crime of violence".^:xi Following his death, Denoël's mistress, Jeanne Loviton, became the legal owner of the company.^:37 In 1951 she sold a 90 percent stake of the company to Gaston Gallimard, "Denoël's arch enemy and publishing rival".^:301 Nowadays, Éditions Denoël publishes around one hundred titles per year. Among the most famous authors published by Éditions Denoël are Sébastien Japrisot,

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

, Philip K. Dick,

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

and Jeanne Benameur. In 2004, Denoël published '' Suite française'', which became a publishing sensation. The novel won the Prix Renaudot in 2004, the first time the prize was awarded posthumously. From 2006, then editor Olivier Rubinstein also published the literary

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

'' Le Meilleur des mondes''.

References

External links

Official site

Site for ''Le Meilleur des Mondes''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Editions Denoel Book publishing companies of France French speculative fiction publishers