Книга: Marcel Ayme «Les contes rouges du chat perche»

Marcel Aymé's grave. Cimetière Saint-Vincent, Paris.

Marcel Aymé (March 29, 1902 – October 14, 1967) was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer and also a screenwriter and theatre playwright.

Biography

Marcel Aymé was born in Joigny, in the Yonne département (Bourgogne). He studied in the Collège de Dole, and worked among other as a journalist in Paris. In literature, his first novel was Brûlebois (1926) and in 1929 La Table aux crevés won the Prix Renaudot. After the success of his novel La Jument verte (1933), he concentrated mostly on literature. He published children's stories, novels and collections. In 1935 he also started writing movie scripts. In theater, Marcel Aymé found success with his plays Lucienne et le boucher, Clérambard (1949), a farce, and Tête des autres (1952), which criticized the death penalty.

He died in 1967 and was buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.

Work

One of Aymé's most famous short stories is Le Passe-Muraille or The Walker-Through-Walls, for which there is a sculpture in Paris that features the story's main character, Dutilleul. At the age of 42, Dutilleul suddenly discovered he "had the remarkable gift of being able to pass through walls with perfect ease." What begins as a novelty that gives him pleasure, ends up pushing Dutilleul toward more sinister pursuits.

Novels and short stories

• Les Jumeaux du diable (1928)
• La Table aux crevés (1929)
• Brûlebois (1930)
• La Rue sans nom (1930)
• Le Vaurien (1931)
• Le Puits aux images (1932)
• La Jument verte (1933) novel translated as The Green Mare
• Maison basse (1934)
• Le Nain (1934)
• Le Moulin de la Sourdine (1936) novel translated as The Secret Stream
• Derrière chez Martin (1936)
• Silhouette du scandale (1938)
• Gustalin (1938)
• Le Bœuf clandestin (1939)
• La Belle image (1941) novel translated as The Second Face and Beautiful Image
• La Vouivre (1941)
• Travelingue (1941) novel translated as The Miraculous Barber
• Le Passe-muraille (1943) adapted into the musical Amour by Michel Legrand and a film (1951)
• Le Chemin des écoliers (1946) novel translated as The Transient Hour
• Le Vin de Paris (1947) adapted into a film (1956)
• Uranus (1948) novel translated as The Barkeep of Blémont
• Les Bottes de sept lieues (1950)
• En arrière (1950)
• Les Contes du chat perché (1934-1946) translated as The Magic Pictures and The Wonderful Farm
• Les Tiroirs de l'inconnu (1960)
• Enjambées (1967)
• La fille du shérif (1987) posthumous collection of short stories, compiled by Michel Lecureur

Theater plays

• Lucienne and the Butcher (Lucienne et le boucher) (1948)
• Clérambard (1950)
• Vogue la galère (1951), adapted into a film in 1973
• Other People's Heads (La tête des autres) (1952)
• Les quatre vérités (1954)
• The Salem Witches (Les sorcières de Salem) (1954), adapted from The Crucible by Arthur Miller
• The Moon Birds (Les oiseaux de lune) (1955)
• The Blue Fly (La mouche bleue) (1957)
• Vu du pont (1957)
• Louisiane (1961)
• The Maxibules (Les Maxibules) (1961)
• La consommation (1963)
• The Wall Cupboard (Le placard) (1963)
• The Night of the Iguana (La nuit de l'iguane), adapted from The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams (1965)
• The Belzébir Convention (La convention Belzébir) (1966)
• Le minotaure (1967)

Memory

His works have inspired a number of movies, television shows, songs and comic strips.

Visitors to Paris can see a monument in his honor at Place Marcel-Aymé, in the Montmartre Quarter. The statue is based upon his short story Le passe-muraille (The Walker through Walls).

See also

• List of French writers
• Papa, maman, ma femme et moi

External links

• PushkinPress.com English editions of works by the author
• Le roman selon les romanciers: bibliographie critique de l'Université McGill (French) Inventory and analysis of Marcel Aymé's non-novelistic writings about the novel
• Marcel Aymé (Writer - filmography) in IMDb
• Link to several short stories by Marcel Ayme including The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls or Le Passe-Muraille
• Marcel Aymé at Find-A-Grave
• About Marcel Aymé (personal web site)