BIOGRAPHY FRANÇOIS MAURIAC – French writer and journalist, François Mauriac is a famous novelist. Her works like “Thérèse Desqueyroux” are often centered on the complexity of human relationships.
Short biography of François Mauriac – Born in 1885 in Bordeaux, the young François Mauriac grew up without his father, who died shortly after his birth. He was brought up by a practicing bourgeois family and received a very strict education from his mother. From an early age he cultivated an interest in literature and poetry. This interest materialized during his secondary studies when he took lessons from Marcel Drouin, one of the founders of the Nouvelle Revue Française and close to the writer André Gide. He introduced him to Baudelaire, Rimbaud and the first works of Gide. These last will mark Mauriac, the ideas developed being at the antipodes of the religious education which he received.
After the end of his studies in literature in Bordeaux, Mauriac went to Paris under pressure from his entourage in order to continue his studies. He passed the entrance examination for the prestigious National School of Charters in 1912, but preferred to change direction to write. He married Jeanne Lafon in 1913. Mobilized during the First World War, he was finally reformed for health problems. His writing career exploded from 1927 with the publication of his novel Thérèse Desqueyroux. Its popularity and success allow it to integrate theFrench Academy in 1933. The consecration of his literary work came in 1952 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.
François Mauriac is also known for his political positions and his commitment to causes close to his heart. In particular, he supported the Republican camp during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, or opposed the decisions taken by the Vichy regime during the Second World War, and lend a hand to the Resistance. He is resolutely hostile to most of the conflicts of the second half of the 20th century, in particular the wars in Indochina and Algeria. Mauriac is also a convinced anti-colonialist and is favorable to the desire for independence of the Maghreb countries. Finally, in addition to his aversion to communist ideas, he was a fervent defender of Charles de Gaulle, to whom he devoted an essay in 1964. François Mauriac died at the age of 84 in 1970, a few months before his death of the general.
Completed and published in 1927, the novel Thérèse Desqueyroux tells the story ofa woman accused of attempting to poison her husband, but whose trial will end with a dismissal. The reader will first follow Thérèse’s path of thought, the reasons which pushed her to commit such an act. To punish her on her return from the trial, her husband Bernard will first of all prohibit her from going out. In the last chapters he changes his mind in the face of his wife’s deteriorating state of health, and decides to let her live her life as she sees fit. Many themes are addressed in this work, considered the most important of François Mauriac. In particular, it is about the consequences of a unwanted marriage and the unhealthy character it provides, but also the too great importance of social conventions to the detriment of people’s happiness. It is for this reason that the trial is being renewed, mainly to avoid casting shame on the entire Desqueyroux family and putting them in disgrace in the eyes of society. This story is inspired by real events, more specifically the trial of theChartrons affair (1905), during which Henriette Canaby was also subpoenaed to appear in court for an attempted poisoning against her husband. François Mauriac himself is physically present during this trial. Against all expectations and despite the overwhelming evidence, the accused was acquitted, probably so as not to further tarnish the reputation of this couple of notables from Bordeaux.
Thérèse Desqueyroux is considered one of the most influential novels of the first half of the 20th century, alongside works such as Counterfeiters (1925) by Gide and The human condition (1933) by André Malraux. It was subsequently the subject of two film adaptations. The first performed in 1966 by Georges Franju, and the second in 2012 by Claude Miller, with actress Audrey Tautou in the lead role. Several sequels to this story were written by François Mauriac between 1933 and 1935 in the form of two short stories and a novel, The end of the night (1935). The latter retraces the end of Thérèse Desqueyroux’s life, deeply marked by events and unable to reveal to her own daughter the reasons which pushed her to separate from her father.
The novels of François Mauriac
François Mauriac has, in addition to his publications in French dailies (Le Figaro, The Express), wrote nearly thirty novels throughout his life. After several unsuccessful attempts, he begins to gain the attention of the general public with The Leper’s Kiss in 1922. This touching and pathetic story was a critical and commercial success. Mauriac reiterates in 1923 with Genitrix, in which he describes a noxious family atmosphere and a man’s obsession with his late wife. In The vipers knot (1933), he portrays a greedy and bitter old man who gradually becomes aware of his mistakes following the death of his wife. Many books written by François Mauriac feature tortured characters, filled with regret and wishing to end their miserable existence. He insists on the complexity of human relationships, which often form decisive elements in each storyline told. In The Sagouin (1951), a nickname given to a retarded boy the result of a chaotic union, Mauriac also attempts to highlight the absence of humanity in a world where contempt is omnipresent. His rigorous and Catholic education, as well as his experience of wars, allow him to tell stories at first glance terrible, but often full of religious morality. This is the case in his last years of life with works like The Lamb (1954) and A teenager from the past (1969).
Mauriac’s other productions: essays, poetry, theater …
François Mauriac has always had strong opinions. This is felt in his testing, very personal and often critical with regard to the themes it addresses. His love for the romantic genre led him to write in 1933 The novelist and his characters, in which he dissects the working method necessary for the development of a novel. He also protests against several of his fellow novelists who, although drawing inspiration from reality, seek more to divert it than to account, for example, of its imperfections. In The young man (1925), he describes the male youth of the early twentieth century as a painful, chaotic passage, with a marked attraction for conflict. His attention to the politics of the post-war years and the post-war boom is noticeable in his Notepad (1952-1970) and his Newspaper, in which he explains his thoughts on various subjects: economy, society, religion … His many reflections are deepened in the Inner memories (1959), in which Mauriac carries out his own autobiographical introspection. Finally, François Mauriac experimented with poetry, since he published during his studies several collections of poems, among which Hands joined (1909) or Thunderstorms (1925). He also tried his hand at theater later, in particular by his taste for the setting in scene and more generally of the classical music (particularly Mozart). We can cite Asmodeus in 1925 and Fire on earth in 1950. Nevertheless, these experiments of Mauriac are not as noticed as his novels or other essays and do not obtain real critical recognition.
- October 11, 1885: Birth of François Mauriac
- François Mauriac was born in Bordeaux on October 11, 1885. He was the son of Jean-Paul Mauriac and Claire Coiffard. He is the youngest of a family of five children: a sister (Germaine Mauriac) and three brothers (Raymond, Jean and Pierre Mauriac). Little François was not even two years old when his father died prematurely from a brain abscess at the age of 37. He was thus raised with an iron fist by his mother according to the precepts of the Catholic faith. He will always remain deeply attached to his hometown. In Bordeaux, a provincial childhood, François Mauriac writes: “This city where we were born, where we were a child, a teenager, it is the only one that we should refrain from judging: it merges into us, it is ourselves; we carry it. in us. The history of Bordeaux is the history of my body and my soul. “.
- 1952: François Mauriac wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
- François Mauriac was honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1952. The same year, he completed the writing of Galigai. This award represents the ultimate consecration of Mauriac’s literary work. He received it five years after André Gide, for whom he had always had deep respect despite his numerous disagreements with the author of the Counterfeiters, and five years before Albert Camus. The latter, like Mauriac, is sensitive to the conflicts of the 1950s in the Maghreb. François Mauriac takes part for the independence of Morocco, while Camus, by his Algerian origins, advocates a call for dialogue and peace in the context of the Algerian war.
- September 1, 1970: Death of François Mauriac
- François Mauriac died on September 1, 1970 in Paris. He leaves behind four children: two boys (Claude and Jean Mauriac) and two girls (Claire and Luce Mauriac). All will follow in their father’s footsteps, embracing a career as a journalist and / or writer. His wife Jeanne died in 1983. The Mauriacs are buried in the Vémars cemetery in Val-d’Oise. Today, the quay opposite the BNF and a prize awarded by the French Academy to promising writers bear his name.
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