Marcel Aymé

Marcel Aymé in 1929
Marcel Aymé's grave. Cimetière Saint-Vincent, Paris.

Marcel Aymé (29 March 1902 – 14 October 1967) was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer, screenwriter and theatre playwright.

Biography

Marcel Aymé was born in Joigny, in the Yonne department of Burgundy. He was educated at the Collège de Dole, then worked as a journalist in Paris, among other things. His first published novel was Brûlebois (1926), and in 1929 his La Table aux crevés won the Prix Renaudot. After the great success of his novel La Jument verte (1933), translated into English as The Green Mare, he concentrated mostly on writing and published children's stories, novels, and collections of stories. In 1935 he also started writing movie scripts. In theater, Marcel Aymé found success with his plays Lucienne et le boucher, Clérambard (1949), a farce, and Tête des autres (1952), which criticized the death penalty.

He died in 1967 and was buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.

Work

One of Aymé's most famous short stories is "Le Passe-Muraille" or "The Walker-Through-Walls". A statue in Paris features the story's main character, Dutilleul. At the age of 42, Dutilleul suddenly discovers that he has "the remarkable gift of being able to pass through walls with perfect ease". What begins as a novelty that gives him pleasure ends up pushing Dutilleul toward ever more sinister pursuits.

Novels and short stories

  • Les Jumeaux du diable (1928)
  • La Table aux crevés (1929) novel translated as The Hollow Field
  • Brûlebois (1930)
  • La Rue sans nom (1930)
  • Le Vaurien (1931)
  • Le Puits aux images (1932)
  • La Jument verte (1933) novel translated as The Green Mare
  • Maison basse (1934) novel translated as The House of Men
  • Le Nain (1934)
  • Le Moulin de la Sourdine (1936) novel translated as The Secret Stream
  • Derrière chez Martin (1936)
  • Silhouette du scandale (1938)
  • Gustalin (1938)
  • Le Bœuf clandestine (1939)
  • La Belle image (1941) novel translated as The Second Face and Beautiful Image
  • La Vouivre (1941)
  • Travelingue (1941) novel translated as The Miraculous Barber
  • Le passe-muraille (1943) short story translated as The Man Who Walked through Walls (Pushkin Press, 2012). Also adapted into the musical Amour by Michel Legrand, the feature films Mr. Peek-a-Boo (1951) and The Man Who Walked Through the Wall (1959), and the TV movies Le passe-muraille (1977)[1] and Le passe-muraille (2016)[2]
  • Le Chemin des écoliers (1946) novel translated as The Transient Hour
  • Le Vin de Paris (1947) adapted into a film (1956)
  • Uranus (1948) novel translated as The Barkeep of Blémont
  • Les Bottes de sept lieues (1950)
  • En arrière (1950)
  • Les Contes du chat perché (1934-1946) translated as The Magic Pictures and The Wonderful Farm
  • Les Tiroirs de l'inconnu (1960)
  • Enjambées (1967)
  • La fille du shérif (1987) posthumous collection of short stories, compiled by Michel Lecureur

Theatrical plays

  • Lucienne and the Butcher (Lucienne et le boucher) (1948)
  • Clérambard (1950)
  • Vogue la galère (1951), adapted into a film in 1973
  • Other People's Heads (La tête des autres) (1952)
  • Les quatre vérités (1954)
  • The Salem Witches (Les sorcières de Salem) (1954), adapted from The Crucible by Arthur Miller
  • The Moon Birds (Les oiseaux de lune) (1955)
  • The Blue Fly (La mouche bleue) (1957)
  • Vu du pont (1957)
  • Louisiane (1961)
  • The Maxibules (Les Maxibules) (1961)
  • La consommation (1963)
  • The Wall Cupboard (Le placard) (1963)
  • The Night of the Iguana (La nuit de l'iguane), adapted from The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams (1965)
  • The Belzébir Convention (La convention Belzébir) (1966)
  • Le minotaure (1967)

Legacy

His works have inspired a number of movies, television shows, songs and comic strips.

Visitors to Paris can see a monument in his honor at Place Marcel-Aymé, in the Montmartre Quarter. The statue is based upon his short story "Le passe-muraille" ("The Walker through Walls").

Filmography

Screenwriter

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0215038/
  2. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4699464/
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