Biography Boris Vian

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 formal education , teenage years
1.3 career
1.4 later years
1.5 death
1.6 legacy

biography
early life

vian born in 1920 upper middle-class family in wealthy parisian suburb of ville d avray (hauts-de-seine). parents paul vian, young rentier, , yvonne ravenez, amateur pianist , harpist. father vian inherited distrust of church , military, love of bohemian life. vian second of 4 children: others lélio (1918–1984), alain (1921–1995) , ninon (1924–2003). family occupied les fauvettes villa. name boris chosen yvonne, avid classical music lover, after seeing performance of mussorgsky s opera boris godunov.

vian suffered ill health throughout childhood , had educated @ home until age of five. 1926 1932 studied first @ small lycée, @ lycée de sèvres. after wall street crash of 1929 family s financial situation worsened considerably , moved small lodge near les fauvettes (from 1929 1932 vians rented villa yehudi menuhin s family). shortly after vian s 12th birthday developed rheumatic fever , after while contracted typhoid.

this combination led severe health problems , left vian heart condition lead death. vian gave eyeblink heart condition in l Écume des jours, popular novel, featuring chloë, main female character dying waterlily growing in lung.

formal education , teenage years

from 1932 1937, vian studied @ lycée hoche in versailles. in 1936, vian , 2 brothers started organizing called surprise-parties (surprise parties). partook of mescaline in form of mexican cacti called peyote. these gatherings became basis of novels: trouble dans les andains (turmoil in swaths) (1943) , particularly vercoquin et le plancton (vercoquin , plankton) (1943–44). in 1936 vian got interested in jazz; next year started playing trumpet , joined hot club de france.

in 1937, vian graduated lycée hoche, passing baccalauréats in mathematics, philosophy, latin, greek , german. subsequently enrolled @ lycée condorcet, paris, studied special mathematics until 1939. vian became immersed in french jazz scene: example, in 1939 helped organize duke ellington s second concert in france. when wwii started, vian not accepted army due poor health. entered École centrale des arts et manufactures in paris , subsequently moved angoulême when school moved there because of war.

in 1940, vian met michelle léglise, became wife in 1941. taught vian english , introduced him translations of american literature. in 1940, vian met jacques loustalot, became recurring character in several novels , short stories colonel . loustalot died accidentally in 1949 falling building trying climb on in order enter flat window, after bet. in 1942, vian , brothers joined jazz orchestra under direction of claude abbadie, became minor character in vian s vercoquin et le plancton. same year, vian graduated École centrale diploma in metallurgy, , son patrick born.

career

after vian s graduation, , michelle moved 10th arrondissement of paris and, on 24 august 1942 became engineer @ french association standardisation (afnor). time accomplished jazz trumpeter, , in 1943 wrote first novel, trouble dans les andains (turmoil in swaths). literary career started in 1943 first publication, poem, in hot club de france bulletin. poem signed bison ravi ( delighted bison ), anagram of vian s real name. same year vian s father died, murdered @ home burglars.

in 1944 vian completed vercoquin et le plancton (vercoquin , plankton), novel inspired partly surprise-parties of youth , partly job @ afnor (which heavily satirized in novel). raymond queneau , jean rostand helped vian publish work @ Éditions gallimard in 1947, along several works vian completed in 1946. these included first major novels, l Écume des jours , l automne à pékin (autumn in peking). former, tragic love story in real world objects respond characters emotions, regarded vian s masterpiece, @ time of publication failed attract considerable attention. l automne à pékin, had love story @ heart more complex, failed sell well.

frustrated commercial failure of works, vian vowed write best-seller , wrote hard-boiled novel spit on graves (j irai cracher sur vos tombes) in 15 days. vian wrote introduction in claimed translator of american shooting star writer name vernon sullivan. vian persuaded friend jean d halluin, début publisher, publish novel in 1947. hoax became known , book became 1 of best-selling titles of year. vian wrote 3 more vernon sullivan novels 1947 1949.

the year 1946 marked turning point in vian s life: @ 1 of popular parties , michelle hosted made acquaintance of jean-paul sartre, simone de beauvoir , albert camus, became regular in literary circles , started regularly publishing various materials in les temps modernes. vian admired sartre in particular , gave him prominent role—as jean-sol partre —in l Écume des jours (litt. foam of days ) published in english under title: froth on daydream. ironically, sartre , michelle vian commenced relationship destroy vian s marriage.

despite literary work becoming more important, vian never left jazz scene. became regular contributor various jazz-related magazines, , played trumpet @ le tabou. result, financial situation improved, , abandoned job @ afnor. vian formed own choir, la petite chorale de saint-germain-des-pieds [sic].

later years

the year 1948 saw birth of vian s daughter, carole. continued literary career writing vernon sullivan novels, , published poetry collections: barnum s digest (1948) , cantilènes en gelée (cantelinas in jelly) (1949). vian started writing plays, first of which, l Équarrissage pour tous (slaughter everyone), staged year written, 1950. same year saw publication of vian s third major novel, l herbe rouge (the red grass). darker story predecessors, centering on man built giant machine him psychoanalyze soul. previous 2 books, did not sell well; vian s financial situation had been steadily worsening since late 1948, , forced take translation of english-language literature , articles in order by. vian separated wife, , in 1950 met ursula kübler (1928–2010), swiss dancer; 2 started affair, , in 1951 vian divorced michelle. ursula , boris married in 1954.

vian s last novel, l arrache-cœur (the heart-extractor), published in 1953, yet again poor sales , vian stopped writing fiction. work appeared after 1953 revised version of l automne à pékin, published 1956. concentrated on new field, song-writing , performing, , continued writing poetry. vian s songs successful; in 1954 embarked on first tour singer-songwriter. 1955, when working art director philips, vian active in wide variety of fields: song-writing, opera, screenplays , several more plays. first album, chansons possibles et impossibles (possible , impossible songs), recorded in 1955. wrote first french rock , roll songs friend henri salvador, sang them under nickname henry cording. wrote java pour petula (a song english girl arriving in france, written in parisian argot) petula clark s first concert performances in france.

still in 1955, vian decided perform of songs on stage himself. had been unhappy fact french singer marcel mouloudji (1922-1994), had interpreted le deserteur (the deserter) on stage year before, had not accepted original lyrics because thought lead song being banned. although vian accepted change 1 verse, song banned tv , radio channels until 1967. record of vian s songs performed himself not successful in france until ten years after death.

vian s life endangered in 1956 pulmonary edema, survived , continued working same intensity before. in 1957, vian completed play: les bâtisseurs d empire (the empire builders), published , staged in 1959. in 1958, vian worked on opera fiesta darius milhaud, , collection of essays, en avant la zizique... et par ici les gros sous (on muzak... , bring in big bucks), published same year.

death

on morning of 23 june 1959, vian @ cinema marbeuf screening of film version of spit on graves. had fought producers on interpretation of work, , publicly denounced film, stating wished have name removed credits. few minutes after film began, reportedly blurted out: these guys supposed american? ass! collapsed seat , died sudden cardiac death en route hospital.

legacy

during lifetime, novels published under name of vernon sullivan successful. published under real name, had real literary value in eyes, remained commercial failure, despite support of famous authors of time.

almost after death, l Écume des jours, , l automne à pékin, l arrache-coeur, , l herbe rouge, began recognition in france. these novels made boris vian legend youth of 1960s , 1970s.

as songwriter, vian had mixed success. when decided sing songs rejected stars himself, succeeded in reaching limited audience (including léo ferré et georges brassens), public remaining unconvinced of talent singing. nevertheless may 1968 in france generation, more previous ones, loved songs, because of impertinence.

as songwriter, vian inspired serge gainsbourg, used attend show @ cabaret les trois baudets , wrote, thirty years later: took on chin [...], sang terrific things [...], because heard him decided try interesting . critic, boris vian first support gainsbourg in le canard enchaîné, in 1957.

over years, vian s work have become modern classics, celebrated , selected subjects study in schools. vian still viewed many emblematic figure of saint germain des prés existed during postwar decade, when district centre of artistic , intellectual life in paris.