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Éric Jourdan (born Jean Roger Éric Gaytérou; 29 May 1930 – 7 February 2015) was a French novelist and playwright.
Jourdan continued to write using pseudonyms. He moved often and lived a
Biography
Jourdan was born in Paris on 29 May 1930. His first novel, ''Les Mauvais Anges'' (English: ''Two'' or ''Wicked Angels''), was published in 1955. An English translation byRichard Howard
Richard Joseph Howard (October 13, 1929 – March 31, 2022), adopted as Richard Joseph Orwitz, was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, ...
that followed in 1963, has been described as "more of an adaptation than a translation". In France the Commission de Censure banned its distribution until 1984.
The novel consists of two narratives authored by each of its seventeen-year-old principal characters, a pair of male cousins raised as brothers. Their summer idyll begins in innocence and becomes an "obsessive and increasingly violent passion", and ends in death, with the boys exchanging roles throughout.
A few of his later novels explore the theme of violence, others the self-realization of same-sex attraction, or family conflict, and historical frameworks.
Jourdan continued to write using pseudonyms. He moved often and lived a bohemian lifestyle
Bohemianism is a social and cultural movement that has, at its core, a way of life away from society's conventional norms and expectations. The term originates from the French ''bohème'' and spread to the English-speaking world. It was used to ...
, living in Savoie
Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...
and Tyrol
Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
, Austria.
After he was adopted sometime after 1990 as an adult by the eminent French-American writer Julien Green
Julien Green (originally "Julian Hartridge Green", 6 September 1900 – 13 August 1998) often Julian Green, was an American writer who lived most of his life in France and wrote mostly in French and only occasionally in English. Over a long and ...
(1900–1998), he lived primarily in Paris. He served Green as secretary and companion, managing relationships with publishers and organizing his social life. He collaborated with Green on a variety of publishing projects, sometimes using a pseudonym, translating Green's work or editing correspondence.
After Green's death in 1998, Jourdan served as the executor of Green's estate. Controversy surrounded his attempts to control Green's publications and protect his reputation. His auction of Green's manuscripts in 2011 failed to attract the price he demanded. He donated them in lieu of inheritance taxes to the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
. Assessing Jourdan's performance as executor Frédéric Martel writing in France Culture
France Culture () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France
Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
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*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist ...
called him "a mediocre, if not insignificant, novelist with a mischievous and money-grubbing character".
After his adoption he took his father's surname. His tombstone presents him as Jean-Éric Green.
Selected works
;Author * ''Mauvais anges'', 1955, reissued 1991; published in English as ''Two'' (1963), later as ''Wicked Angels'' * ''Charité'', 1985 * ''Révolte'', 1986 * ''Sang'', 1995 * ''L'Amour brut'', Flammarion, 2004 * ''Pour jamais'' * ''Saccage'' * ''Le Garçon de joie'' * ''Le Songe d’Alcibiade'' * ''Lieutenant Darnancourt'' 2010 * ''Portrait d'un jeune seigneur en dieu des moissons, et autres nouvelles'' * ''Trois coeurs'' * ''Aux gémonies'' ;Editor * ''The Story of Two Souls: the Correspondence of Jacques Maritain and Julien Green'', edited by Henry Bars, Eric Jourdan, Bernard Doering, Fordham University Press, 1988 * ''Julien Green–Jacques Maritain: Une grande amitié, Correspondance 1926–1972'', text and notes by Henry Bars and Éric Jourdan, GallimardReferences
;Additional sources * Owen Heathcote, ''From Bad Boys to New Men? Masculinity, Sexuality and Violence in the Work of Éric Jourdan'', Berlin, Peter Lang, 2014 * Serge Kandrashov, ''Rencontres avec Éric Jourdan'', Éditions Textes Gais, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jourdan, Eric 1930 births 2015 deaths 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists French gay writers French LGBTQ novelists French male novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers