Curtis, Jean-Louis 1917-1995
CURTIS, Jean-Louis 1917-1995
PERSONAL: Born May 22, 1917, in Orthez, France; died of a heart attack, November 12, 1995, in Paris, France.
CAREER: Writer.
AWARDS, HONORS: Prix Goncourt, 1947, for Forests of the Night; Balzac Prize, 1974; Prix Litteraire Prince Pierre de Monaco, 1981.
WRITINGS:
Siegfried, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1946.
Les Forêts de la nuit: Roman, Julliard (Paris, France), 1947, translation by Nora Wydenbruck published as The Forests of the Night, Putnam (New York, NY), 1951.
Gibier de potence: Roman, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1949.
Haute école: Essai, Julliard (Paris, France), 1950.
Chers corbeaux: Roman, Julliard (Paris, France), 1951.
Lucifer's Dream, translation by Robin Chancellor, J. Lehmann (London, England), 1952.
Les Justes Causes: Roman, Julliard (Paris, France), 1954.
L'Échelle de soie: Recit, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1956.
The Side of the Angels, translation by Humphrey Hare, Putnam (New York, NY), 1956.
Un Saint au neon, Editions Denoel (Paris, France), 1956.
À la recherche du temps posthume, Fasquelle (Paris, France), 1957.
La Parade: Roman, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1960.
Cygne sauvage: Roman, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1962.
(Translator) William Shakespeare, Le Roi Lear (title means "King Lear"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1965.
Ouevres: Collection établie et présentee, Editions Rencontre (Lausanne, Switzerland), 1965.
La Quarantaine: Roman, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1966.
Cinema, Julliard (Paris, France), 1967.
Le Jeunes Hommes: Roman, Julliard (Paris, France), 1967.
Une Jeune Couple: Roman, Julliard (Paris, France), 1967.
Le Thé sous les cypres: Recits, R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1969.
Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées, translation by Robert Baldrick published as The World of Older Men, Michael Joseph (London, England), 1969.
Un Miroir le long du chemin: Journal, Julliard (Paris, France), 1969.
Le Roseau pensant: Roman, Julliard (Paris, France), 1971.
La Chine m'inquiète: Pastiches, B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1972.
Questions à la littérature, Stock (Paris, France), 1973.
L'Étage noble, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1976.
L'Horizon dérobé, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1978.
La Rose de Daoud, Casterman (Paris, France), 1978.
La Moitié de chemin: Roman, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1980.
Le Battement de mon coeur, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1981.
La France m'épuise, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1982.
Poemes, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1982.
Le Mauvais Choix, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1984.
Un Rien m'agite, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1985.
Une Éducation d'écrivain, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1985.
Les Moeurs des grands fauves (title means "The Mores of Big Game"), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1988.
Le Temple de l'amour, Presses universitaires de Lille (Lille, France), 1990.
La Traduction plurielle, Presses universitaires de Lille (Lille, France), 1990.
(Author of dramatization) Marcel Proust, Charlus, Actes sud (Arles, France), 1991.
Lectures en liberté, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1991.
Baccarat, photographs by Jacques Boulay and Jean-Michel Tardy, Abrams (New York, NY), 1992. Le Comble du chic: Nouvelles, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1994.
Le Monde comme il va, Editions du Rocher (Monaco, France), 1995.
Andromède, A. Michel (Paris, France), 1996.
Discours de réception de François Jacob à l'Académie française et réponse de Maurice Schumann, O. Jacob (Paris, France), 1997.
SIDELIGHTS: Jean-Louis Curtis was the author of more than thirty novels. He was widely known in France and received many literary honors during his career, but according to an obituary in the New York Times, he once said that a writer's real life involved "combat with the angel in solitude."
Le Roseau pensant tells the story of Martial Anglade, a moderately successful man who is not terribly devoted to his family, and who has never spent much time reflecting on the meaning of life. His unreflective life is broken apart when a close friend dies and Anglade becomes consumed with worry and fear. Searching for the answer to his questions about death, suffering, and meaning, he asks everyone he meets—the priest, his Catholic aunt, his children, and even his brother-in-law, whom he hates. Along the way, the reader is treated to many views—all of which Curtis clearly views with skepticism. Religions, intellectual world views, faith in science, are all shown to simply satisfy the needs of their believers rather than to offer any real answers or truth. As a reviewer wrote in the Times Literary Supplement, "These theories are themselves never ridiculed but are shown to be the fruit of a minor trait of personality or part of the season's fashion." The reviewer also praised Curtis's ability to write about an average man and still retain the reader's interest.
L'Horizon dérobé is set in the 1960s, against the background of tumultuous social change that occurred during that decade. Catherine, Nicolas, and Thierry are all teenagers living in a small town in southwestern France, who go to Paris and become involved in the student riots there. In the end, they all go their own ways, after passing through a series of trials, personal difficulties, and emotional ordeals. Danielle Chavy Cooper praised the book in World Literature Today, noting that "the three main characters are sharp-witted and critical; their comments on society are penetrating, often devastating." She also praised the wide variety of social classes portrayed in the book, as well as Curtis's presentation of various social structures and movements, which impart "breadth as well as historical perspective."
In Baccarat, Curtis departs from his usual fiction and poetry to tell the true story of the Baccarat crystal works in northeastern France. The book includes a history of the art of glassmaking, from ancient Egypt and the Near East, through the origin of glassblowing during the first century B.C., to the invention of techniques to produce crystal glassware by George Ravenscroft in London in 1676. The Baccarat Company was founded in the eighteenth century, and is still housed in the original buildings. Curtis explains how the company makes the glass, including all the processes of crystal making, with descriptions of the almost ballet-like procedures involved in melting and shaping the glass. The book is illustrated with over 300 photographs by Jacques Boulay and Jean-Michel Tardy. In the Los Angeles Times, Elaine Kendall called Curtis's text "concise and witty" and described the book as a whole as a "lavish celebration" of the art of glassmaking.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Colonial Homes, June, 1993, Jane Clancy, review of Baccarat, p. 60.
French Review, December, 1991, Jane Riles, review of Le Temple de l'amour, p. 339.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, December 6, 1992, Elaine Kendall, review of Baccarat, p. 31.
New York Times Book Review, December 27, 1992, Martha Stewart, "Glass Will Tell," p. 13.
Observer, September 7, 1969, review of The World ofOlder Men, p. 29.
Times Literary Supplement, October 9, 1969, p. 1146; July 16, 1971, "Angst and Mr. Average," p. 826.
World Literature Today, winter, 1980, Danielle Chavy Cooper, review of L'Horizon dérobé, p. 67; autumn, 1988, Guy Mermier, review of Les Moeurs des grands fauves, p. 629.
OBITUARIES:
PERIODICALS
New York Times, November 12, 1995, p. 1681.*