Boris Vian
Boris Vian (March 10, 1920 - June 23, 1959) was a French writer, poet, singer, and musician, who also wrote under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan. He was born in Ville-d'Avray, near Paris, and educated at the École Centrale Paris. His works were often highly controversial, but his writing and performance of jazz songs gained the admiration of many famous names.
Career
He wrote 10 novels, including some mass-market sex-and-violence thrillers, under the pseudonym of Vernon Sullivan, who he claimed was an American whose works had been translated into French; every one of these caused a scandal in France upon publication. Under his own name he published L'Arrache Coeur (Heartsnatcher), L'Herbe Rouge, and what critics regard as his masterpiece, L'Ecume des Jours. L'Ecume des Jours has appeared in English translation several times under different titles, but Stanley Chapman's translation Froth on the Daydream is generally regarded as the most accomplished.
He was also the author of plays, short stories and songs, including a 1958 collaboration on the opera Fiesta with Darius Milhaud. He often played jazz at the "Tabou", a club (now disappeared), which was located in the Rue Dauphine, close to Saint-Germain des Prés, in Paris. He was playing a pocket trumpet, which he called "trompinette" in some of his poems. His most famous song was "Le déserteur", a pacifist song written during the Indochina War. He himself recorded a good number of his many texts, with most of the rest recorded by other artists, among them Juliette Gréco, Nana Mouskouri, Yves Montand, Magali Noel, and Henri Salvador. Serge Gainsbourg said that it was seeing Boris Vian on stage that made him decide to try his hand at songwriting.
A jazz enthusiast, he served as liaison for, among others, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in Paris. He also mounted several Jazz publications (Jazz Hot, Paris Jazz) and published numerous articles dealing with Jazz both in America and France. Though he never put a foot on American soil, the themes of both jazz and America run thick in his work.
Death
On the morning of June 23, 1959, Boris Vian was at the Cinema Marbeuf for the screening of the film version of his controversial "Vernon Sullivan" novel, J'irai cracher sur vos tombes (I will Spit On Your Graves). He had already fought with the producers over their interpretation of his work and he publicly denounced the film stating that he wished to have his name removed from the credits. A few minutes after the film began, he reportedly blurted out: "These guys are supposed to be American? My ass!" He then collapsed into his seat and died of a heart attack en route to the hospital. The heart attack is widely attributed to the fact that Boris Vian had been suffering from irregular heartbeat for a long time.
Selected bibliography
Prose
- As Boris Vian:
- Trouble dans les Andains (1947, posthumously published in 1966)
- Vercoquin et le plancton (1947)
- L'E'cume des Jours (1947, Froth on the Daydream, Mood Indigo, Foam of the Daze)
- L'automne a Pekin (1947)
- Les Fourmis (1949, short stories)
- L'Herbe rouge (1950)
- L'Arrache-coeur (1953, Heartsnatcher)
- Le loup garou (posthumously published in 1970, short stories)
- As Vernon Sullivan:
Dramatic works
- L'Equarrissage pour tous (1950)
- Le Dernier des metiers (1950)
- Tete de Meduse (1951)
- Les Batisseurs d'Empire (1959)
- Le Gouter des generaux (posthumously published in 1962)
Poetry
- Barnum's Digest (1948, a collection of 10 poems)
- Cantilenes en gelee (1949)
- Je voudrais pas crever (posthumously published in 1962)
Translations
- The World of Null-A by A. E. van Vogt, as Le Monde des A~.
External Links
- Le Petit Cahier du Grand Boris Vian: Biography, Quotations, Articles, etc (http://borisvian.free.fr/)French
- Boris Vian for English language readers (http://www.toadshow.com.au/rob/vian/vian.htm)
- A Tribute to Gainsbourg, zoom sur Boris Vian (http://www.gainsbourg.org/vrsn3/html/zooms/borisvian/index.html)French
de:Boris Vian fr:Boris Vian it:Boris Vian he:בוריס ויאן