Claude Vigée (born Claude Andre Strauss; 3 January 1921 – 2 October 2020) was a French poet who wrote in
French and
Alsatian. He described himself as a "Jew and an Alsatian, thus doubly Alsatian and doubly Jewish".
Life
Vigée was born in
Bischwiller,
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...
, the son of Germaine (Meyer), a homemaker, and Robert Strauss, who worked in business. He was descended from an old family of Alsatian cloth merchants. He spent his youth in Bischwiller, then attended secondary school in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
. Displaced from Alsace by the invasion of the Germans in 1940, he began to study medicine in
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
before joining the
Résistance. In 1942, he published his first poems in the underground magazine "
Poésie 42". He fled to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 1943, where he obtained his doctorate in
Romance Languages and Literature in 1947. He taught French Language and Literature at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
, then at
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
and then at
Brandeis University
Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
. Since 1950, he has regularly published his poetry in France. He lived in
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
between 1960 and 2001, where he taught at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
until his retirement in 1983. On March 18, 2000, the "Claude Vigée" Cultural Center was opened in his home city of Bischwiller.
Vigée died in Paris on 2 October 2020 at the age of 99. Among other subjects, Vigée's poetry discusses the suffering of the Jews, the Alsatians, the Alsatian Jews and the Jews in Alsace, but he also deals with the beauty and the transitoriness of the simple, rural heritage. The pursuit for peace and interpersonal accord is also a recurring motif.
From his first collection, La Lutte avec l'ange (1949) he imposes himself by the tone both biblical and rilkean of his language, the magnitude of his visions, the anguished fervor with which he seeks the face of God through the immensities of time and space, the happy spontaneity of his images and the symbolic value of which he knows how to charge:
"L'humide et chaude nuit rendit coptif des songes
Ce grand arbre irrite par les vents eternels."
In La Corne du Grand Pardon (1954), L'Ete indien (1957), Canaan d'exil (1962) he has sometimes expressed in classics, sometimes in liberated verses, sometimes in prose, a feeling of exile which is probably less due to the fact he has long lived out of his native Alsace than that born in a Jewish family, he felt everywhere separated from his religious homeland.
In Le Poeme du retour (1962), written after he had settled in Israel, he said, in a "militant" tone quite close to Paul Eluard's, his joy at having found the haven he was looking for, and to be able to work for the cause of his brothers;
"Apres tant d'abandons, dr misere et de ruines
Ce pays est vivant par la grace d'un peuple."
Awards
Vigée is the winner of numerous awards, including the
Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis (1984), the
(1987), the
Prix de la Fondation du Judaïsme français
Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who ...
(1994), the
Grand prix de Poésie de l'Académie française (1996), the
Würth Prize for European Literature
The Würth Group (, ) is a worldwide wholesaler of fasteners, screws and screw accessories. Würth expanded its range and today offers a full range of business equipment for craft businesses in a kind of supermarket of its own. Würth offers dow ...
(2002) and the
Elisabeth Langgässer Literature Prize (2003).
Works
English Translations
*
*
Poetry
* ''La lutte avec l'ange'' (1939–1949) Publication 1950. Réédition L'Harmattan 2005 : Collection Poètes des cinq continents
* ''La corne du grand pardon'' (1954)
* ''L'été indien'' (1957)
* ''Canaan d'exil'' (1962)
* ''Le poème du retour'' (1962)
* ''Le passage du vivant''
* ''Dans le creuset du vent''
* ''Danser vers l’abîme''
* ''Dans le silence de l'Aleph,'' Albin Michel, (1992)
* ''Les Puits d'eau vive,'' Albin Michel, (1993)
* ''Treize inconnus de la Bible,'' (1996)
* ''Être poète pour que les hommes vivent'' (2006)
Bibliography
* Jean Rousselot, ''Dictionnaire de la poesie francaise contemporaine'', 1968, Auge, Guillon, Hollier -Larousse, Mooreau et Cie.-Librairie Larousse, Paris
References
External links
*
Biography, bibliography, list of works, poetry, on judaisme.sdv.fr«Claude Vigées Stunde» - Article from webjournal.ch on Nov. 7, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigee, Claude
1921 births
2020 deaths
People from Bischwiller
Alsatian Jews
20th-century French Jews
French male poets
French poets
Jewish poets
Jews in the French resistance
Brandeis University faculty
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ohio State University faculty
Wellesley College faculty
Prix Goncourt de la Poésie winners