Michel Mohrt
Michel Mohrt (born April 28, 1914 in Morlaix ; † August 17, 2011 in Paris ) was a French writer and member of the Académie française .
life and work
Despite the German-sounding name, Michel Mohrt's parents belonged to the traditionalist Breton milieu; politically it was the royalist -minded Action Française close. In 1934 he completed a law degree in Rennes . In 1937 he enrolled for a year at the local Bar Association as an attorney one. In 1939 he fought against Italian troops on the Alpine front. He was awarded the Croix de guerre for his service in an Italian attack . After the French defeat, he enrolled as a lawyer in Marseille.
In 1945 Editions Robert Laffont published him as an editor . A year later he became literary program director for a publishing house in Montréal. He later taught at Yale University . In 1952 he took a position at Éditions Gallimard and headed the entire Anglo-Saxon literary program there until his death. It was thanks to him that William Faulkner , Jack Kerouac and William Styron appeared in French translation.
His best-known novel, La Prison Maritime , published in 1962, is about the life of a sailor and his struggles with the elements. Stylistically he is strongly influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island . Mohrt wrote around 40 novels that took place in such a large setting and in which he often took the perspective of the inferior.
The dark side of this perspective was revealed in Mon royaume pour un cheval , published in 1949. The novel is a chronicle of the German occupation, told from the perspective of those who identified with the occupiers,
“Cette race d'homme faite pour vivre entre hommes, race de moines et de soldats durs à eux-mêmes comme aux autres, race de demi-soldes, éternelle race des héros, des terroristes et des saints. »
"This race of men, created to live among men, race of monks and soldiers, as hard on themselves as on others, race of cheaply sold, eternal race of heroes, terrorists and saints."
The protagonist of this novel is Jean Bassompierre , militia commander and founder of the Service d'ordre légionnaire in Vichy, member of the SS division Charlemagne . Bassompierre was shot dead by the Resistance .
Mohrt openly confessed to the writers Pierre Drieu la Rochelle , Paul Morand , Marcel Jouhandeau , Robert Brasillach and Louis-Ferdinand Céline , who were close to the collaboration .
In 1985 Mohrt was appointed to chair No. 33 of the Académie française, that of Voltaire . Jean d'Ormesson welcomed him with the following words:
«Vous êtes breton, catholique et sauvage. J'ai voulu vous saluer dans votre langue natale qui fut celle de Renan , d'un Charles Le Goffic ou d'un Jean Guéhenno . »
“You are Breton, Catholic, and wild. I wanted to greet them in their mother tongue, the language of Renan, Charles le Goffic and Jean Guéhenno ”
And he added in Breton:
“Aotrou, ni a zo laouen oc'h heti d'eoc'h digemer vad e breuriezveur ar galleg.”
"Sir, we are pleased to welcome you to the great brotherhood of the French language."
In addition to his work as a writer and editor, Mohrt was a literary and film critic for Le Figaro and later for television. He wrote articles for numerous publications. He died of a heart attack at the age of 97 .
Awards
- 1962 Grand prix roman of the Académie française as well as Prix Bretagne for La Prison maritime
- 1970 Grand prix de la critique littéraire for the essay collection L'Air du large
- 1983 Grand prix de littérature of the Académie française for his life's work
- 1990 Grand prix du roman of the city of Paris
- 1992 Prix Trevarez for Un soir à Londres
literature
- Yann Plougastel: Michel Mohrt . In: Le Monde . August 22, 2011, p. 19 .
Web links
- Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mohrt, Michel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French writer and member of the Académie française |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 28, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Morlaix |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th August 2011 |
| Place of death | Paris |