Aymé, Marcel

Entry updated 29 January 2024. Tagged: Author.

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(1902-1967) French author and dramatist, not generally thought of as a contributor to the sf field, though several of his best-known novels, such asLa jument verte (1933; appalling anonymous trans asThe Green Mare1938; new trans Norman Denny1955), are fantasies, usually with a satirical point to make about provincial French life.La belle image (1941; trans Norman Denny asThe Second Face1951; new trans Sophie Lewis2006) comes close to an sf nightmare ofIdentity in its rendering of the effect on its protagonist of finding himself suddenly and mysteriously given a second, more attractive face.La vouivre (1943; trans asThe Fable and the Flesh1949) is again a fantasy, its satirical targets again provincial. It has been twice adapted as a film.Across Paris and Other Stories (coll trans1957; vtThe Walker-through-Walls coll1962) assembles fantasy and the occasional sf tale, as does the different selection [see Checklist]The Walker-through-Walls and Other Stories (coll1972 trans Norman Denny).Pastorale (1931) is a regressiveUtopia that makes more articulate than is perhaps entirely comfortable the nostalgia that lies beneath Aymé's urbane "Gallic" style.

Other works includeClérambard (1950; trans N Denny1952), a play, and two children's fantasies:The Wonderful Farm (1951) andReturn to the Wonderful Farm (1954; vtThe Magic Pictures1954). [JC]

Marcel Andre Aymé

born Joigny, Yonne, France: 29 March 1902

died Paris: 14 October 1967

works (selected)

La jument verte (Paris: Gallimard,1933) [hb/]
- The Green Mare (London: The Fortune Press,1938) [anonymous trans of above: hb/Jean de Bosschère]
- The Green Mare (London: The Bodley Head,1955) [new trans by Norman Denny of the above: hb/K F Rowland]
La Belle Image (Paris: Gallimard,1941) [hb/]
- The Second Face (London: The Bodley Head,1951) [trans by Norman Denny of the above: hb/]
- Beautiful Image (London: Pushkin Press,2006) [new trans by Sophie Lewis of the above: pb/]
La Vouivre (Paris: Gallimard,1933) [hb/]
- The Fable and the Flesh (London: The Bodley Head,1949) [trans by Eric Sutton of the above: hb/]
Across Paris and Other Stories (London: The Bodley Head,1957) [coll: trans by Norman Denny from various sources: with introduction by Denny: hb/MichaelAyrton]
- The Walker-through-Walls (New York: Berkley Medallion,1962) [coll: vt of the above: pb/RichardPowers]
The Proverb and Other Stories (London: The Bodley Head,1961) [coll: trans by Norman Denny from various sources: hb/John Griffiths]
The Walker-through-Walls and Other Stories (London: The Bodley Head,1972) [coll: trans and with introduction by Norman Denny: different selection from the above, with stories from bothAcross Paris andThe Proverb: illus/Jean de Bosschère: hb/Brian Paine]
- The Man Who Walked Through Walls (London: Pushkin Press,2017) [title story only from the above: trans by Norman Denny: first published in 15 August 1941Lectures as "Le passe-muraille": pb/]