Michel Tournier

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Michel Tournier (2005)

Michel Tournier (born December 19, 1924 in Paris , † January 18, 2016 in Choisel ) was a French writer .

Live and act

Tournier was the son of a Germanist couple who met while studying German at the Sorbonne . The father was a co-founder and head of the BIEM , the organization entrusted with the protection of the copyrights of artists, namely musicians , according to the German GEMA . Interest in and inclination for Germany and especially for the German language had an old tradition, especially in the mother's family. Although the father was seriously injured in the fight against Germans in World War I , the four children - three sons and one daughter - spent their holidays with and without their parents, mostly in Germany, and learned German at an early age. Despite this, the family did not tend to collaborate with the German occupation during World War II .

After 1945, Michel Tournier was among the first French civilians to go to Germany. In the summer of 1946, although he was studying philosophy and law, he first took part in a six-week holiday course in Bad Teinach in the Black Forest and in Tübingen organized by the French military government for French and British Germanists and German Romanists . He then studied philosophy at the University of Tübingen for four years.

Because Tournier failed the required exam in France, his intention to become a lecturer in philosophy failed. After working for publishers and broadcasters as well as literary translator (among others by Erich Maria Remarque ), his first novel Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique ( Ger.Friday or In the lap of the Pacific ) was published in 1967 , which won the Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie française was awarded.

For his second novel, Le Roi des Aulnes (German: Der Erlkönig , 1972), published in 1970, he received - unusually unanimously - the most important French literary prize, the Prix ​​Goncourt . The novel, which is set mainly during the Second World War, half in France, then in Germany - in East Prussia - is a multifaceted work of realistic, mythical, philosophical, psychological and historical elements. Tournier represents the special attraction of the youth cult of the National Socialists. The title alludes to Goethe's ballad Erlkönig and sees the Nazis as seducers. The novel had considerable success in Germany and was filmed in 1996 by Volker Schlöndorff under the title Der Unhold .

Until 2010, Tournier was a member of the Académie Goncourt , which awards the award of the same name, and was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Saxon Academy of the Arts . He was a holder of the Goethe Medal and an honorary doctorate from the University of London. Tournier recently lived and worked as a freelance writer in Choisel near Paris.

reception

Tournier's works have been translated into numerous languages ​​and some have received other literary prizes.

With the exception of the first novel, Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique , all works were translated into German by Hellmut Waller , a German lawyer of the same age with whom Tournier had been close friends since a summer course in 1946. He received the Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit for his translation work .

Works (selection)

Autobiographical

  • Le vent Paraclet . Gallimard, Paris 1980, ISBN 2-07-029618-0 (EA Paris 1977)
    • German: The Wind Paraklet. An autobiographical attempt . Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1979 ISBN 3-455-07728-5 .
  • Le bonheur en Allemagne? Gallimard, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-07-030799-9 (EA Paris 2004)
  • Michel Tournier 1924 - 2000, in Verena von der Heyden-Rynsch Ed .: Vive la littérature! Contemporary French literature. Translated from Rebekka Göpfert. Hanser, Munich 1989, p. 183

Stories and short stories

  • Le médianoche amoureux . Éditions Gallimard, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-07-038406-3 (EA Paris 1989)
    • German: The love meal. One night novels . Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1993 ISBN 3-596-11025-4 (EA Hamburg 1990)
  • Le Coq de Bruyère . 1978
  • Gilles & Jeanne . 1987
    • German: Gilles and Jeanne . Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987 ISBN 3-596-25197-4

Essays and the like

Books for children and young readers

  • Sept contes . Gallimard Jeunesse, Paris 2012 ISBN 978-2-07-062230-6
  • Pierrot or Les secrets de la nuit . Gallimard Jeunesse, Paris 2011 ISBN 978-2-07-053886-7 (EA Paris 1998)
    • German: Pierrot or the colors of light . Sanssouci, Munich 2007 ISBN 978-3-8363-0018-6 (former title Pierrot or the secrets of the night )
  • Lili ou L'initiation parfumée . Hèrmes International, Paris 2002 ISBN 2-911544-70-6
    • German: Lilli or the fragrant way into life
  • Les Rois Mages . Gallimard Jeunesse, Paris 1998
  • La Couleuvrine . Gallimard Jeunesse, Paris 1994

Novels

  • Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique . 1968.
    • German: Friday or in the lap of the Pacific .
  • Le roi des Aulnes . 1970.
    • German: The Erlkönig . Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1972
  • Les Météores . 1975
    • German: twin stars
  • Gaspard, Melchior & Balthazar . 1980
    • German: Kaspar, Melchior & Balthasar
  • La Goutte d'or . 1985
    • German: The gold drop
  • Vendredi ou la vie sauvage . 1987
    • German: Friday or life in the wilderness
  • Eléazar ou la Source et le Buisson . Gallimard, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-07-040468-4 (EA Paris 1996)
    • German: Eleasar or source and thorn bush . Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1998 ISBN 3-455-07752-8

theatre

  • Le fétichiste. Un acte pour un homme seul . Gallimard, Paris 1997 ISBN 2-07-074888-X (EA Paris 1974)
    • German: The fetishist. Piece for one performer .

Film adaptations

  • 1988: The drop of gold (La goutte d'or)
  • 1996: The Ogre (The Ogre)

literature

Essays

  • Christa Bevernis: On the image of people in contemporary French novels . Michel Tournier, JMG Le Clézio , Georges Perec . Spellings and ways of seeing. In: Weimar Contributions . Journal for literary studies, aesthetics and cultural theory , vol. 31 (1985), issue 10, pp. 1589-1613, ISSN  0043-2199
  • Béatrice Didier: Autobiography et roman d'éducation. "Le vent Paraclet" by Michel Tournier. In: Questions littéraires. 2006, ISBN 9973-28-266-4 , pp. 13-24.
  • Theo Rommerskirchen: Michel Tournier. In: Ders .: viva signature si! 20 years of signature. Letters, encounters with painting poets and poetic painters . Verlag Rommerskirchen, Remagen-Rolandseck 2005, ISBN 3-926943-85-8 .
  • Yves Saint-Cyr: Le roi des perles de verre. Hermann Hesse and Michel Tournier. In: The modern language review. Volume 105 (2010), Issue 2, pp. 313-328, ISSN  0026-7937

Books

  • Melissa Barchi Panek: The postmodern mythology of Michel Tournier . CSP, Newcastle upon Tyne 2012, ISBN 978-1-4438-3737-8 .
  • Jean-Paul Guichard: L'âmedéployée. Images et imaginaire du corps dans l'œuvre de Maichel Tournier . UP, Saint-Étienne 2006, ISBN 2-86272-398-3 .
  • Manfred S. Fischer: Problems of International Literature Reception. Michel Tournier's “Le roi des aulnes” in the German-French context (Aachen contributions to comparative literature; 2). Bouvier, Bonn 1977, ISBN 3-416-01322-0 .
  • Cornelia Klettke: Michel Tourniers' post-modern mythical novel using the example of “Roi des Aulnes” . Romanistischer Verlag, Bonn 2012, ISBN 978-3-86143-204-3 (also dissertation, University of Kiel 1991).
  • Serge Koster: Michel Tournier or Le choix du roman . Zulma Éditions, Cadeilhan 2005, ISBN 2-84304-311-5 .

Web links

Commons : Michel Tournier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ L'écrivain Michel Tournier, author of “Roi des aulnes” et de “Vendredi ou la vie sauvage”, est mort à l'âge de 91 ans . FranceTVinfo , January 18, 2016, accessed January 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ Tilman Krause : No French love the Germans as much as he does. In: WeltN24 , December 19, 2014.
  3. ↑ Josef Theisen: Article Le roi des aulnes. In: Kindlers Literature Lexicon. Metzler, Stuttgart 2009, Volume 16, p. 386.
  4. ↑ A newspaper asked what will be essential for posterity in 2000. Tournier replied that it would be his (fictional) death that year and wrote down what should be in a suitable obituary. So tournament as an obituary about yourself.
  5. ↑ EA; Edition for the GDR construction, Berlin 1984, with an afterword by Joachim Meinert, ISBN 3-351-01424-4 , pp. 403-440; further edition without epilogue.
  6. ^ German premiere: September 13, 1989 at Theater Boulevard.
personal data
SURNAME Tournier, Michel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 2016
Place of death Choisel , France