Georges Duhamel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georges Duhamel, ca.1930

Georges Duhamel (born June 30, 1884 in Paris , † April 13, 1966 in Valmondois near Paris) was a French writer .

His extensive work hardly leaves out a genre. He became best known for his ten-volume cycle of novels , Chronik der Pasquiers , published between 1933 and 1945 , which identifies him as a moralist rather than a chronicler of the epoch. In some treatises he also attacked the belief in progress and technology of his contemporaries. He himself remained religious.

life and work

The son of a pharmacist decided to study medicine after graduating from high school (1902); however, he is primarily interested in literature. Between 1906 and 1908 he founded near Paris along with Charles Vildrac (his later brother) Cultural Center L'Abbaye de Créteil , a live and work for all artists. Duhamel is heated as lyricist for "unanimistische" concept of the group member Jules Romains . As a narrator, he initially sees the task of describing contemporary conditions. In this group he met the actress Blanche Albane, whom he married in 1909. In 1912 he became editor of the literary bimonthly Mercure de France , in which everything was published that was of rank and name. Even editor-in-chief in 1935, he was deposed in 1938 because of his proximity to the Resistance . After the war, however, he was again the main owner of the paper, which was taken over by the renowned Gallimard publishing house in 1958 .

During the First World War, Duhamel worked as a surgeon, often near the front. Out of the devastating wartime experiences, he wrote two works that established his fame: La Vie des Martyrs and Civilization , for which he received the coveted Prix ​​Goncourt in 1918 . Around 1919 he discovered the Sausseron valley and the town of Valmondois in the Seine-et-Oise department , northeast of Paris; he will spend many summers here in the future. In 1920 he decided to become a freelance writer.

Chronicle of the clan spirit

After the “finger exercise” of a five-volume cycle of novels about the inconspicuous employee Salavin (who experiences the “adventures” announced in the title mainly in his mind), the Pasquier novels appear from 1933 onwards. Although written with great “psychological mastery”, Duhamel emphasizes in this cycle what all the family members described have in common: despite their different temperaments, they are consistently permeated by the “esprit de clan” (clan spirit). This coincides with the author's moral point of view. "His aim is not to visualize a historical epoch, however eventful it may have been, but to shape people with their existential questions that are the same at all times."

In 1935 Duhamel became a member of the Académie française . During this decade he made a number of trips, including abroad, to make the French language and culture known. He promotes a civilization that is founded in the individual, "in the heart of the people", and not in their technical achievements. His concern is the individual threatened by increasing mechanization and dehumanization. Duhamel suggests a few conferences. In 1937 he was also accepted into the Académie nationale de Médecine . From 1939 to 1945, that is, especially during the occupation of France by the Germans, Duhamel worked as the "temporary permanent secretary" of the Académie française. His books are banned by the occupiers. He defends himself against the Nazis and against the Pétainists in the Académie, which after the war earned him official thanks from the de Gaulle government .

music

Around 1930 Duhamel advanced to become the “official writer of the III. and IV. Republic ”. To the extent that he replaces the postulate that narrative literature is related to time with general human and moral categories, the “progress pessimism” of his early texts is transformed into “spiritualism”.

In 1947 Duhamel becomes president of the Alliance française , a worldwide cultural institute of the French state. He resumes his travel activities and has branches of the Alliance set up in many cities around the world. He has suffered from illnesses since 1960 and rarely appears in public. He died in 1966 at the age of 81.

Duhamel loved music, played the piano and flute himself, and often gave concerts in his house. From 1939 he regularly wrote music reviews, for example for the daily newspaper Le Figaro . His son is the composer Antoine Duhamel .

In Paris, a street and a park are named after Georges Duhamel.

Works

  • Des légends, des batailles , poems, 1907
  • L'homme en tête , poems, 1909
  • Selon ma loi , poems, 1910
  • La lumière , Drama, 1911, German Das Licht , Leipzig 1921
  • Compagnons , poems, 1912
  • Dans l'ombre des statues , drama, 1912
  • Le combat , drama, 1913
  • Paul Claudel , 1913
  • Les Poètes et la poésie , 1914
  • Le cafard , drama, 1916
  • Vie des martyrs , short stories, 1917, German life of the martyrs , Zurich 1919
  • Civilization , Roman, 1918 (Prix Goncourt)
  • La Possession du monde , 1919, German The possession of the world , Zurich 1921
  • Entretiens dans le tumulte , 1919
  • Elégies , poems, 1920
  • Vie et aventures de Salavin , novels; 1920–1932:
    • I. Confession de minuit , 1920, German midnight confession , Berlin 1924
    • II. Deux hommes , 1924, German Two friends , Berlin 1925
    • III. Journal de Salavin , 1927
    • IV. Le Club des Lyonnais , 1929, German You cannot escape yourself , Berlin 1933
    • V. Tel qu'en lui même ... , 1932
  • Les Hommes abandonnés , 1921, German Die Gottverlassenen , Vienna 1925, People of the Street , Leipzig 1926
  • L'œuvre de athlètes , Drama, 1920, German Der Athletenbund , Potsdam 1921
  • Lapointe et Ropiteau , 1921
  • Quand vous voudrez , drama, 1921
  • Les plaisirs et les Jeux , 1922, German joys and games , Zurich 1927
  • Anthologie de la poésie lyrique française de la fin du XVe siècle à la fin du XIXe siècle . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1923 (poems in the " Bibliotheca Mundi " series)
  • Le prince Jaffar , short story, 1924, German Prince Dschaffar , Zurich 1926
  • Les voix du vieux monde, mis en musique par Albert Doyen , poems, 1925
  • Essai sur le roman , 1925
  • Hollandaise Suite , 1925
  • Délibérations , 1925
  • La Pierre d'Horeb , 1926
  • Lettres au Patagon , 1926, German letters to Patagonia , Zurich 1927
  • Essai sur une renaissance dramatique , 1926
  • Le Voyage de Moscou , 1927, German Das neue Moskau , Zürich 1928
  • Memorial cauchois , 1927
  • Images de la Grèce , 1928
  • Les sept dernières plaies , 1928
  • La nuit d'orage , novel, 1928, German thunderstorm night , Leipzig 1928
  • Scènes de la vie future , 1930, German mirror of the future , Berlin 1931
  • Geographie cordiale de l'Europe , 1931
  • Les jumeaux de Vallangoujard , 1931
  • Querelles de famille , 1932
  • L'Humaniste et l'automate , 1933
  • Chronique des Pasquier , novels, 1933–1945:
    • I. Le notaire du Havre
    • II. Le jardin des bêtes sauvages
    • III. Vue de la terre promise
    • IV. La nuit de la Saint Jean
    • V. Le désert de Bièvre
    • VI. Les Maîtres
    • VII. Cécile parmi nous
    • VIII. The combat contre les ombres
    • IX. Suzanne et les jeunes hommes
    • X. La passion de Joseph Pasquier

(German partial editions Over the stairs of Paris , Stuttgart 1952, Götter in Paris , 1954, Schatten im Licht Paris , 1955)

  • Discours aux nuages , 1934
  • Remarques sur les mémoires imaginaires , 1934
  • Fables de mon Jardin , 1936
  • Défense des Lettres , 1937
  • Deux Patrons ( Erasme , Cervantes ) , 1937
  • Esquisse pour un portrait du chirurgien moderne , 1938
  • Au chevet de la civilization , 1938
  • Le Dernier Voyage de Candide , 1938
  • Mémorial de la guerre blanche 1938 , Paris 1939
  • Positions Françaises , 1940
  • Finlande , 1940
  • Lieu d'asile , 1940
  • Confessions sans pénitence , 1941
  • Chronique des Saisons amères , 1944
  • La Musique consolatrice , Essays, 1944, German consolation of music , Munich 1955
  • Paroles de médecin , 1944
  • Images de notre délivrance , 1944
  • Lumières sur ma vie , Memoirs, 1944–53:
    • I. Inventaire de l'abime
    • II. Biography de mes fântômes
    • III. Le temps de la research
    • IV. La pesée des Ames
    • V. Les éspoirs et les épreuves
  • Twinka , 1945
  • Souvenirs de la vie du Paradis , 1946
  • Visages , 1946
  • Homère au XXe siècle , 1947
  • Semailles au vent , 1947
  • Entretien au bord du fleuve , via Henri Mondor , 1947
  • Tribulations de l'espérance , 1947
  • Consultation aux pays d'Islam , 1947
  • Semaille au vent , 1947
  • Fables de mon jardin , German fables from my garden , Zurich 1948
  • Le bestiaire et l'herbier , 1948
  • Hollande , 1949
  • Le voyage de Patrice Périot , Roman, 1950, German Professor Patrice Périot , Hamburg 1953
  • Cri des profondeurs , Roman, 1951, German scream from the abyss , Vienna 1953, scream from the depths , Munich 1956
  • Chronique de Paris au temps de Pasquier , 1951
  • Vues sur Rimbaud , 1952
  • Manuel du protestataire , 1952
  • Les Voyageurs de l'Espérance , 1953, German The passengers of hope: Tale from the atomic age , Recklinghausen 1955
  • Le Japon entre la tradition et l'avenir , 1953
  • Refuges de la lecture , 1954
  • La Turquie, nouvelle puissance d'Occident , 1954
  • L'Archange de l'Aventure , 1955
  • Croisade contre le cancer , 1955
  • Les Compagnons de l'Apocalypse , 1956
  • Pages de mon journal intime , 1956
  • Israël, clef de l'Orient , 1957
  • Problèmes de l'heure , 1957
  • Le Complexe de Théophile , Roman, 1958, German Théophile , Cologne 1960
  • Travail, ô mon seul repos , 1959
  • Nouvelles du sombre empire , 1960
  • Problèmes de civilization , 1961
  • Traité du départ , 1961

literature

  • Duhamel (1884-1966) . Mercure de France, Paris 1967 (Ivoire Collection).
  • Rolf Beyerlein: Cultural perception and cultural criticism in the work of Duhamel . Dissertation, University of Tübingen 1957.
  • Claudine Delphis (Ed.): Georges Duhamel - Stefan Zweig . Correspondance . Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-934-565-85-9 .
  • Luc Durtain: Georges Duhamel . Monnier, Paris 1920 (Les cahiers des amis des livres; 4).
  • Winfried Engler : Lexicon of French literature . Edition Komet, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89836-265-5 .
  • Hermann Gmelin : The French cycle novel of the present. 1900-45 . Verlag Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg 1950.
  • Walter Jens (Ed.): Kindler's New Literature Lexicon , Vol. 4 . Munich 1988.
  • Louis C. Keating: Critic of civilization. Duhamel and his writings . University Press, Lexington, KY 1965.
  • Egbert Klautke: Key witnesses of anti-Americanism in Germany and France. Adolf Halfeld and Georges Duhamel . In: Wolfgang Eßbach (Ed.): What modernity? Intellectual discourses between Germany and France in the field of tension between national and European identity images . Verlag Spitz, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8305-0062-9 , pp. 173-191.
  • Bettina L. Knapp: Georges Duhamel . Twayne, New York 1972 (Twaynes world authors series; 199).
  • Arlette Lafay: La sagesse de Duhamel . Minard, Paris 1984, ISBN 2-85210-022-3 (La thèosothèque; 14).
  • Reinhard Palm : A lucky one. On the 100th birthday of Georges Duhamel , in: Die Presse, June 23, 1984
  • César Santelli: Duhamel . Bordas, Paris 1947 (Hommes du jour; 3).
  • Marcel Saurin: Les écrits de Duhamel. Essai de bibliographie générale . Mercure de France, Paris 1951.
  • Ludwig Schrader: Georges Duhamel, Vie et Aventures de Salavin . In: Walter Pabst (ed.): The modern French novel. Interpretations , Berlin 1968, pp. 134–149.
  • Pierre-Henri Simon: Duhamel ou le bourgeois sauvé . Editions du Temps Présent, Paris 1947.
  • André Terrisse: Georges Duhame éducateur . Nathan, Paris 1951.
  • Lisa Wehrli: People and style in Duhamel's work . Villger Verlag, Zurich 1937 (also dissertation, University of Zurich).
  • Hans Zehrer : Georges Duhamel . Kron Verlag, Oettingen 1928 (plus dissertation, University of Königsberg / P. 1928).
  • Jacques J. Zéphir: Bibliography duhamélienne . Nizet, Paris 1972.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Winfried Engler: Lexicon of French Literature
  2. ^ A b Walter Jens (ed.): Kindlers New Literature Lexicon .
  3. ↑ See also: Spiegel 8/1961 short review of the novel Théophile im Spiegel , vol. 15 (1961), issue 8 from February 15; Retrieved June 20, 2011
  4. ↑ Enclosed: Marcel Saurin: Complement aux écrits de Georges Dujhamel. Essai de bibliographie générale , 1951–1966

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Duhamel, Georges
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer and poet
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1966
Place of death Valmondois near Paris