Robert Merle

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Robert Merle (1964)
Robert Merle (1985)

Robert Merle (born August 28, 1908 in Tebessa , Algeria , † March 28, 2004 in Paris ) was a French novelist . He became known to the general public in 1972 through his novel Malevil , which is about the consequences of a nuclear war . In addition, Merle also wrote a biography of the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and plays.

Life

Merle was born on August 28, 1908 in Tebessa, then French Algeria , as the son of an officer and moved to France in 1918 . After finishing school, he began to study English in Paris. In 1940 Merle fought in the Battle of Dunkirk and was taken prisoner by the Germans.

After the end of the war, he finished his studies in Paris and then accepted a position at the University of Rennes . As a professor of English, he worked briefly at the University of Algiers and then from 1967 in Nanterre . His teaching assignment faded more and more into the background compared to his literary work. From 1977 he continued to write his cycle Fortune de France until the end of his life . At the age of 95, Robert Merle died of a heart attack on March 28, 2004 in his home near Paris .

From 1974 until the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979 was Merle member of the French Communist Party .

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Robert Merle, his son Pierre wrote a biography about his father.

Works

Many of his literary themes were based on historical events. In La mort est mon métier (1952, German edition 1957: Death is my job ) Merle deals with the life of Rudolf Höß , who was the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp . The basis for this were interrogation records. The novel was filmed in 1977 under the title “ From a German Life ” with Götz George in the lead role by Theodor Kotulla . The theme of Derrière la vitre ( behind glass are the protests at the University of Paris-Nanterre during) (1970) Student protests in 1968 .

The novel Malevil describes the experiences of a small group of people who survived the nuclear war because they were in the wine cellar of Malevil Castle in southern France on "Day X" when the bombs fell . With no fallout , people can go on with their lives reasonably normally, but conflicts with other survivors and tension within the group soon arise. Ironically, therefore, the first technical devices that survivors produce on their own are weapons.

In the science fiction novel A reason-gifted animal (title Aufbau-Verlag) or Der Tag der Delphine (title Stahlberg- und Goldmann-Verlag) he described the abuse of dolphins for military purposes.

In The Protected Men , he pokes fun at the macho-patriarchal social system and extreme feminism at the same time. An epidemic that affects only men and kills them unless they are neutered will significantly decimate the number of men. The surviving men are kept in special quarantine camps to ensure the survival of humanity. As a result of these events, men and women not only exchange their social roles, but also their behavioral patterns.

He wrote a number of historical novels and reports.

  • Weekend in Zuidcoote - ( Week-end à Zuydcoote , 1949)
  • Death is my job ( La mort est mon métier , 1957)
  • The Island (1962)
  • Moncada - Fidel Castro's First Battle (1965)
  • An animal gifted with reason ( Un animal doué de raison , 1967, Stahlberg- und Goldmann-Verlag: Der Tag der Delphine )
  • Behind glass ( Derrière la vitre , 1970)
  • Malevil (1972)
  • Protected men ( Les hommes protégés , 1974)
  • The day of the monkey ( Le propre de l'homme , 1989)
  • Madrapour (1976)
  • Night hunter ( Le Jour ne se lève pas pour nous )
  • The Idol (1991)

In the late 1960s and 1970s, the writer Eduard Zak translated several of Merle's works from French ( Moncada: Fidel Castro's 1st Battle ; The Island ; A Reasonable Animal ; Malevil ) on behalf of the East German Aufbau-Verlag .

In 1977 Merle began the successful saga "Fortune de France", which, when the last volume was published in 2003 in France, comprised 13 volumes (volume 14 remained unfinished). In it he conveys the history of France during the religious conflicts through the experiences of the Renaissance family Siorac under the French kings Francois I to Louis XIV. It is one of the most extensive historical novels in contemporary literature and has been read by around six million people.

In the French original, the books appeared in the historically correct order listed below. The Aufbau-Verlag did not initially plan to translate the entire series into German, but rather to make several turning points. It was probably the massive protesting as well as pleading inquiries from Merle fans at the Aufbau-Verlag that then changed the mind of the publisher. Some volumes were delivered later, which meant that the German book versions did not appear in the historically correct order of the plot.

  • Fortune de France ("Fortune de France"). 7th edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-7466-1213-6 .
  • In our green years (“En nos vertes années”). 6th edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-7466-1214-4 .
  • The good city of Paris ("Paris, ma bonne ville"). 6th edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-7466-1215-2 .
  • The embers are still smoldering (“Le prince que voilà”). Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-7466-1207-1 .
  • Paris is worth a fair (“La violente amour”). 2nd edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-7466-1208-X .
  • The day is dawning ("La pique du jour"). 2nd edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-7466-1209-8 .
  • The wild dance of the silk skirts (“La volte des vertugadins”). 4th edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-7466-1216-0 .
  • The King's Child ("L'enfant roi"). 4th edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7466-1217-9 .
  • The roses of life ("Les roses de la vie"). 3rd edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-7466-1218-7 .
  • Lily and purple ("Le lys et la poupre"). 1st edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7466-1219-5 .
  • A cardinal in front of La Rochelle (“La gloire et les périls”). 2nd edition, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7466-1226-8 .
  • The Queen's Revenge (“Complots et cabales”). Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-7466-1226-8 .
  • The king is dead ("Le glaive et les amours"). Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-7466-1227-0 .

Filmography

script

Literary template

Award

Merle was first known for the coveted Prix ​​Goncourt literary prize for his novel Weekend à Zuydcoote (1949) (German edition 1950: "Weekend in Zuitcoote"), which was inspired by his time in German captivity during World War II.

In 1973 he won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Malevil .

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Robert Merle  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME Merle, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer and novelist
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Tebessa
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 2004
Place of death Paris