François Charles Mauriac (French:[fʁɑ̃swaʃaʁlmoʁjak];Occitan:Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of theAcadémie française (from 1933), and laureate of theNobel Prize in Literature (1952). He was awarded the Grand Cross of theLégion d'honneur in 1958.
François Charles Mauriac was born inBordeaux, France. He studied literature at theUniversity of Bordeaux, graduating in 1905, after which he moved toParis to prepare for postgraduate study at theÉcole des Chartes.
On 1 June 1933, he was elected a member of theAcadémie française, succeedingEugène Brieux.[1]
A formerAction française supporter, he turned to the left during theSpanish Civil War, criticizing the Catholic Church for its support of Franco. After the fall of France to theAxis during theSecond World War, he briefly supported the collaborationist régime of MarshalPétain, but joined theResistance as early as December 1941. He was the only member of theAcadémie française to publish a Resistance text with theEditions de Minuit.
Mauriac had a bitter dispute withAlbert Camus immediately following theLiberation of France. At that time, Camus edited the Resistance paperCombat (thereafter an overt daily, until 1947), while Mauriac wrote a column forLe Figaro. Camus said newly liberated France shouldpurge allNazi collaborator elements, but Mauriac warned that such disputes should be set aside in the interests of national reconciliation. Mauriac also doubted that justice would be impartial or dispassionate, given the emotional turmoil of the Liberation. Despite having been viciously criticised byRobert Brasillach, he campaigned against his execution.
Mauriac also had a bitter public dispute withRoger Peyrefitte, who criticised theVatican in books such asLes Clés de saint Pierre (1953). Mauriac threatened to resign from the paper he was working with at the time (L'Express) if they did not stop carrying advertisements for Peyrefitte's books. The quarrel was exacerbated by the release of the film adaptation of Peyrefitte'sLes Amitiés Particulières, and culminated in a virulent open letter by Peyrefitte in which he accused Mauriac of homosexual tendencies and called him aTartuffe, hypocrite.[2]
Mauriac was opposed toFrench rule in Vietnam, and strongly condemned the use of torture by the French army in Algeria.
In 1952, he won theNobel Prize in Literature "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life".[3] He was awarded the Grand Cross of theLégion d'honneur in 1958.[4] He published a series of personalmemoirs and abiography ofCharles de Gaulle.Mauriac's complete works were published in twelve volumes between 1950 and 1956. He encouragedElie Wiesel to write about his experiences as aJewish teenager during theHolocaust, and wrote the foreword to Elie Wiesel's bookNight.
1927 –Thérèse Desqueyroux («Thérèse», tr. 1928 / «Thérèse Desqueyroux», tr. 1947 and 2005)
1928 –Destins («Destinies», tr. 1929 / «Lines of Life», tr. 1957)
1929 –Trois Récits A volume of three stories:Coups de couteau, 1926;Un homme de lettres, 1926;Le Démon de la connaissance, 1928
1930 –Ce qui était perdu («Suspicion», tr. 1931 / «That Which Was Lost», tr. 1951)
1932 –Le Nœud de vipères («Vipers' Tangle», tr. 1933 / «The Knot of Vipers», tr. 1951)
1933 –Le Mystère Frontenac («The Frontenac Mystery», tr. 1951 / «The Frontenacs», tr. 1961)
1935 –La Fin de la nuit («The End of the Night», tr. 1947)
1936 –Les Anges noirs («The Dark Angels», tr. 1951 / «The Mask of Innocence», tr. 1953)
1938 –Plongées A volume of five stories:Thérèse chez le docteur, 1933 («Thérèse and the Doctor», tr. 1947);Thérèse à l'hôtel, 1933 («Thérèse at the Hotel», tr. 1947);Le Rang;Insomnie;Conte de Noël.
1939 –Les Chemins de la mer («The Unknown Sea», tr. 1948)
1941 –La Pharisienne («A Woman of Pharisees», tr. 1946)
1951 –Le Sagouin («The Weakling», tr. 1952 / «The Little Misery», tr. 1952) (A novella)
1952 –Galigaï («The Loved and the Unloved», tr. 1953)
1954 –L'Agneau («The Lamb», tr. 1955)
1969 –Un adolescent d'autrefois («Maltaverne», tr. 1970)
