Austryn Wainhouse (6 February 1927 – 29 September 2014) was an American author, publisher and translator, primarily of French works and most notably of the Marquis de Sade. He sometimes used the pseudonym Pieralessandro Casavini.

Life

Following his graduation from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, Wainhouse traveled around Europe before settling in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

where he worked for

Maurice Girodias Maurice Girodias (12 April 1919 – 3 July 1990) was a French publisher who founded the Olympia Press, specialising in risqué books, censored in Britain and America, that were permitted in France in English-language versions only. It evol ...

Olympia Press Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary fiction, and is b ...

. His wife Mary, known as ''Muffy'' or ''Muffie'', also worked for Girodias. They divorced in 1959. In 1960, some time after Wainhouse had returned to the United States,

Gay Talese Gaetano "Gay" Talese (; born February 7, 1932) is an American writer. As a journalist for ''The New York Times'' and ''Esquire'' magazine during the 1960s, Talese helped to define contemporary literary journalism and is considered, along with ...

described him as Wainhouse and his wife, Deborah Clayton Wainhouse, returned to the south of France in 2001, where he lived until his death in September 2014.Austryn Wainhouse Papers
Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center

Career

In the early 1950s, Wainhouse worked for

in Paris, and later was an editor of the short-lived literary magazine '' Merlin''. Wainhouse produced the first unexpurgated English translation of the Marquis de Sade's '' Justine'' for Olympia Press in 1953.John J. St Jorre. The Good Ship Venus: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press. pp. 218 - 220. Random House (UK). 1994 In 1955 the controversial erotic French novel '' Histoire d'O'' (''Story of O'') by Pauline Reage (a pseudonym for

Anne Desclos Anne Cécile Desclos (23 September 1907 – 27 April 1998) was a French journalist and novelist who wrote under the pen names Dominique Aury and Pauline Réage. She is best known for her erotic novel '' Story of O'' (1954). Early life Born ...

), won the prestigious Prix des Deux Magots award for unconventional books. Wainhouse was hired to provide a second translation. In order to thwart the censors and protect the author and translator, Girodias changed the title to ''The Wisdom of the Lash''. After his return to the United States, Wainhouse embarked on a translation of Sade's entire ''oeuvre'' for Grove Press, including '' Justine'', ''

The 120 Days of Sodom ''The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage'' (french: Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l'école du libertinage, links=no) is an unfinished novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in ...

'', and ''Letters from the Bastille''. The translation was well-received, with one reviewer calling it "appropriately and agreeably prolix." In 1970 Wainhouse was

Writer-in-Residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the Jonas Salk Institute, and in 1972 he won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in category Translation for

Jacques Monod Jacques Lucien Monod (February 9, 1910 – May 31, 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of e ...

's ''

Chance and Necessity ''Chance and Necessity: Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology'' (French: ''Le Hasard et la Nécessité: Essai sur la philosophie naturelle de la biologie moderne'') is a 1970 book by Nobel Prize winner Jacques Monod, interpreting the p ...

'' (NY: Vintage, 1971)."National Book Awards – 1972"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-11. By 1983, he had established his own publishing firm

The Marlboro Press ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

Marlboro, Vermont Marlboro is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,722 at the 2020 census. The town is home to both the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum and Marlboro College, which hosts the Marlboro Music School and Festi ...

, which specialized in translations of works into English, such as

Louis Calaferte Louis Calaferte (French pronunciation: wi kalafɛrt; 14 July 1928 - 2 May 1994) was an Italian-born French naturalized novelist. He was born in Turin, Italy, but emigrated to France with his parents when he was very young, settling in a Lyon sub ...

's ''C'est la Guerre'' and

Georges Hyvernaud Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

's ''Skin and Bones''. His wife Deborah Clayton Wainhouse was director of the press. Wainhouse was friends for many years with British poet

Christopher Logue Christopher Logue, CBE (23 November 1926 – 2 December 2011)Mark EspineObituary: Christopher Logue ''The Guardian'', 2 December 2011 was an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival, and a pacifist. Life Born in Portsmouth, ...

, with whom he carried on a lively correspondence for decades.

Bibliography

Original work

* '' Hedyphagetica'', 1954 in Paris * ''On Translating Sade'', 1966, '' Evergreen Review''

Translations

* 1953: Marquis de Sade's ''Justine'' , reprinted in 1963 as #67 in Traveller's Companion series. * 1955: Georges Bataille, '' Lascaux; or, the Birth of Art, the Prehistoric Paintings'' and ''

Manet A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...

'', co-translator James Emmons * 1958: Simone de Beauvoir, ''The Long March'' * 1968: Marquis de Sade, '' Juliette'' (1797) * 1971:

, ''

'', New York: Vintage, 1971 * 1989: Georges Bataille, '' My Mother'', '' Madame Edwarda'', ''

The Dead Man ''The Dead Man'' was a science fiction strip in the British comic '' 2000 AD'' by writer John Wagner and artist John Ridgway, published in black and white in 1989–90. Although it was not billed as a ''Judge Dredd'' story, it featured Dredd as ...

'', with essays by

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered fo ...

and Ken Hollings, Marion Boyars Publishers. * 1996: Aleksandra Kroh, '' Lucien's Story'' * 2002:

Pierre Klossowski Pierre Klossowski (; ; 9 August 1905 – 12 August 2001) was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus. Life Born in Par ...

, '' Roberte ce Soir'' and ''

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

'', with introduction by Michael Perkins, published by Dalkey Archive Press

References

External links

Austryn Wainhouse Papers
at Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center

Austryn Wainhouse
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Authorities—with 8 catalog records {{DEFAULTSORT:Wainhouse, Austryn French–English translators National Book Award winners Harvard University alumni University of Iowa alumni 2014 deaths Place of birth missing 1927 births 20th-century translators 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers