Marcel Moreau (16 April 1933 − 4 April 2020) was a Belgian writer. He was born in

Boussu Boussu (; pcd, Boussu-dlé-Mont) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. As of January 1, 2006, Boussu had a population of 20,058. The total area is 20.01 km², which gives a population density Populati ...

, a town in the mining region of

Borinage The Borinage () is an area in the Walloon province of Hainaut in Belgium. The name derives from the coal mines of the region, ''bores'' meaning mineshafts. In French the inhabitants of the Borinage are called Borains. The provincial capital ...

Hainaut Province Hainaut (, also , , ; nl, Henegouwen ; wa, Hinnot; pcd, Hénau), historically also known as Heynowes in English, is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (clockw ...

, into a working-class environment. He described it as "a pure cultural void" with "a total absence of any cultural reference point". He lost his father at the age of 15, and abandoned his studies a short time later. He worked in various trades before becoming an accountant's assistant in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

for the newspaper ''

Le Peuple ''Le Peuple'' was a socialist daily newspaper published in Brussels, Belgium. Publication started on 13 December 1885 and ended in March 1998.

''. In 1955 he became a proof-reader for the daily ''Le Soir''. Marcel Moreau married in 1957 and fathered two children. In 1963 he published his first novel, ''Quintes'', notably praised by

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even ...

. Then followed ''Bannière de bave'' (Dribble Banner, 1965), ''La terre infestée d'hommes'' (Earth Infested with Men, 1966) and ''Le chant des paroxysmes'' (The Sound of Paroxysms, 1967). He moved to Paris in 1968, where he continued proof-reading. He worked for Alpha Encyclopédie, then for

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

in 1971, and later for

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French Newspaper of recor ...

, until 1989. He travelled widely, to the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

, India,

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

, China,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, Canada,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, the United States. He was friends with such cultural figures as

Roland Topor Roland Topor (7 January 1938 – 16 April 1997) was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, who was known for the surreal nature of his work. He was of Polish-Jewish ...

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 11, 1903 – January 14, 1977; , ) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the ...

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a ...

and

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

. Considered a marginal writer with an idiosyncratic style, he was the author of a considerable body of work. He died in

Bobigny Bobigny () is a commune, or town, in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Bobigny is the prefecture (capital city) of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, as well as the seat of the ...

(a suburb of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

), on 4 April 2020, of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

during the

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...

Bibliography

* ''Quintes'', Buchet-Chastel, 1962 (published in the United States as The Selves of Quinte 1965) * ''Bannière de bave'', Gallimard, 1966 * ''La Terre infestée d'hommes'', Buchet-Chastel, 1966 * ''Le chant des paroxysmes'', Buchet-Chastel, 1967 * ''Écrits du fonds de l'amour'', Buchet-Chastel, 1968 * ''Julie ou la dissolution'', C. Bourgois, 1971 * ''La Pensée mongole'', Christian Bourgois, 1972; Ether vague, 1991 * ''L'Ivre livre'', Christian Bourgois, 1973 * ''Le Bord de mort'', Christian Bourgois, 1974 * ''Les Arts viscéraux'', Christian Bourgois, 1975; Ether vague, 1994 * ''Sacre de la femme'', Christian Bourgois, 1977; Ether vague (corrected and revised edition), 1991 * ''Discours contre les entraves'', C. Bourgois, 1979 * ''A dos de Dieu ou l'ordure lyrique'', Luneau Ascot, 1980 * ''Orgambide scènes de la vie perdante'', Luneau Ascot, 1980 * ''Moreaumachie'', Buchet-Chastel, 1982 * ''Cahier caniculaires'', Lettres Vives, 1982 * ''Kamalalam'', L'Age d'homme, 1982 * ''Saulitude'', photographs by Christian Calméjane, Accent, 1982 * ''Incandescence'' and ''Egobiographie tordue'', Labor, 1984 * ''Monstre'', Luneau Ascot, 1986 * ''Issue sans issue'', Ether vague, 1986 & 1996 * ''Le Grouilloucouillou'', in collaboration with

, Atelier Clot, Bramsen et Georges, 1987 * ''Treize portraits'', in collaboration with

Antonio Saura Antonio Saura Atarés (September 22, 1930 – July 22, 1998) was a Spanish artist and writer, one of the major post-war painters to emerge in Spain in the fifties whose work has marked several generations of artists and whose critical voice is ...

, Atelier Clot, Bramsen, et Georges, 1987 * ''Amours à en mourir'', Lettres Vives, 1988 * ''Opéra gouffre'', La Pierre d'Alun, 1988 * ''Mille voix rauques'', Buchet-Chastel, 1989 * ''Neung, conscience fiction'', L'Ether Vague, 1990 * ''L'Œuvre Gravé'', Didier Devillez, 1992 * ''Chants de la tombée des jours, Cadex, 1992 * ''Le charme et l'épouvante'', La Différence, 1992 * ''Noces de mort'', Lettres Vives, 1993 * ''Stéphane Mandelbaum'', D. Devillez, 1992 * ''Tombeau pour les enténébrés'', L'Ether Vague, 1993 * ''Bal dans la tête'', La Différence, 1995 * ''La compagnie des femmes'', Lettres Vives, 1996 * ''Insensément ton corps'', Cadex, 1997 * ''Quintes'', Mihaly, 1998 * ''La jeune fille et son fou'', Lettres vives, 1998 * ''Extase pour une infante roumaine'', Lettres Vives, 1998 * ''La vie de Jéju'', Actes Sud, 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreau, Marcel 1933 births 2020 deaths Belgian writers in French 20th-century Belgian novelists Belgian male novelists People from Boussu 20th-century Belgian male writers Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France