Jean Cau
Jean Cau (born July 8, 1925 in Bram , † June 18, 1993 in Paris ) was a French writer and journalist. In 1961 he received the Prix Goncourt for his novel La pitié de Dieu .
Cau was the son of a farm worker in the south of France and studied literature and philosophy in Paris after attending high schools in Carcassonne and Paris (Lycée Louis-le-Grand). He belonged to the existentialist circles in Saint-Germain-de-Pres. From 1946 to 1957 he was secretary to Jean-Paul Sartre . From 1949 to 1954 he was an editor in the magazine Sartre Les Temps modern , was a journalist at L'Express (editor from 1957), Figaro littéraire (1963/64), France Observateur (from 1978) and for Paris Match (from 1984). He later broke with Sartre and wrote against the left.
His novel Le pitié de Dieu is about four murderers sentenced to life (a doctor, a boxer, a crane operator and a radio journalist) who share a prison cell and tell each other their stories. At what time and where the action takes place is not exactly described.
Cau published numerous books, including political pamphlets and essays and political and literary portraits, often in a satirical and polemical tone, which also earned him enmity, especially since he showed no consideration. His criticism of Ernest Hemingway (Cau himself loved Spain and Spanish culture and was closely connected to it as a southern Frenchman) is said to have been one reason why the Hemingway admirer Heinrich Maria Ledig-Rowohlt did not publish his award-winning novel with Rowohlt.
He wrote a play, Die Fallschirmjäger , which was also performed in Berlin.
Works (selection)
- Les Paroissiens, Gallimard, 1958
- La pitié de Dieu, Gallimard 1961
- German edition: The Mercy of God, Piper 1962
- Croquis de memoire, Juillard 1985
Web links
- Munzinger
- Obituary in The Independent, June 29, 1993
- Jean Cau: Germans are Germans, Die Zeit, February 26, 1965 (Cau about a visit to Germany in 1965)
Individual evidence
- ^ Josef Müller-Marein, The novel by Jean Cau , Die Zeit October 5, 1962
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cau, Jean |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 8, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bram |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 18, 1993 |
| Place of death | Paris |