Auguste Le Breton
Auguste Le Breton (born February 18, 1913 in Lesneven , † May 31, 1999 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye ) was a French writer and lexicographer.
life and work
The author
Auguste Montfort, alias Le Breton, lived for the first half of his life in a nursing home (told in Les Hauts Murs , Paris 1953) and in shady surroundings until well into the forties (told in 2 sous d'amour , Paris 1986). Then, taking advantage of this experience, he wrote numerous crime novels of the genre Roman noir , which were successfully filmed and therefore partly translated into German, such as Du rififi chez les hommes (Paris 1954, Collection Série Noire; German: Rififi ) and Le rouge est mis (Paris 1954; German: Night is falling ).
The lexicographer
The special feature of his style was the (moderate) use of the Argot vocabulary, for the understanding of which he presented a dictionary that was published several times until 1986. The title (with pun) was originally Langue verte et noirs desseins (Paris 1960, 1968), then L'argot chez les vrais de vrais (Paris 1975, 1976) and finally Argotez, argotez, il en restera toujours quelque chose [modification of "Calomniez, calomniez, il en restera toujours quelque chose" = The slander, it's a breeze ...], Paris 1986. Since then, this argot has become outdated, but also classic and thus quotable and allusive.
Film adaptations (selection)
- script
- 1954: Rififi - Director: Jules Dassin
- 1956: The Law of the Street (La loi des rues) - Director: Ralph Habib
- 1956: Three o'clock at night (Bob le flambeur) - Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
- 1966: Special Department C III Montmartre (Brigade anti-gangs) - Director: Bernard Borderie
- Literary template
- 1955: Razzia in Paris (Razzia sur la chnouf) - Director: Henri Decoin
- 1957: Night falls (Le rouge est mis) - Gilles Grangier
- 1957: Night over Paris (Rafles sur la ville) - Directed by Pierre Chenal
- 1959: Rififi among women (Du rififi chez les femmes) - directed by Alex Joffé
- 1961: Rififi in Tokyo (Du rififi à Tokyo) - Director: Jacques Deray
- 1965: Rififi in Paris (Du rififi à Paname) - directed by Denys de La Patellière
- 1969: The Clan of Sicilians (Le clan des siciliens) - Director: Henri Verneuil
- 2002: The Thief of Monte Carlo (The Good Thief) - Director: Neil Jordan
literature
- Dictionnaire de biographie française 20, pp. 325–326
Web links
- Website about Auguste Le Breton (French)
- Literature by and about Auguste Le Breton in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Le Breton, Auguste |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Montfort, Auguste |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French author, lexicographer and Romance philologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 18, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lesneven |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 1999 |
| Place of death | Saint-Germain-en-Laye |