Charles Vildrac (November 22, 1882 – June 25, 1971), born "Charles Messager",''1971 Britannica Book of the Year'' (for events of 1971), "Obituaries 1971" article, page 532, "Vildrac, Charles" item was a French libertarian playwright, poet and author of what some consider the first modern children's novel, ''L'Île rose'' (1924). Born in Paris, Vildrac's first poems were written when he was a teenager in the 1890s. In 1901 he published ''Le Verlibrisme'', a defense of traditional verse. In 1912 he published a collection of prose poems. He was a member of the

Abbaye de Créteil L'Abbaye de Créteil or Abbaye group (french: Le Groupe de l'Abbaye) was a utopian artistic and literary community founded during the month of October, 1906. It was named after the Créteil Abbey, as most gatherings took place in that suburb of P ...

which he founded with

Georges Duhamel Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published '' Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...

. He died in Saint-Tropez. The Prix de poésie Charles Vildrac is named for him.

Works

* ''Poèmes (1905)'' * ''Images et mirages'' (1907), poems * ''Livre d'amour'' (1910), poems * ''Notes sur la technique poétique'' (1910), ''Notes on Poetic Technique'', with

* ''Chants du désespéré (1914–20)'' (1920), ''Songs of a Desperate Man'', poems * ''Découverte'' ( 1912), ''

récit A ''récit'' is a subgenre of the French novel, in which the narrative calls attention to itself. Literary critic Roger Shattuck explains, "During a ''récit'', we are conscious of being at one remove from the action; the very act of narration int ...

'' novel * ''Chants du désespéré'' (1920), poems * ''Le Paquebot Tenacity'' (1920; lit. ''S.S. Tenacity''), theatre play * ''L'Indigent'' (1920), theatre play * ''Michel Auclair'' (1921) * ''L'Île rose'' (1924), children's novel, lit. ''The Pink Island'', translated as ''Rose Island'' * ''Poèmes de l'Abbaye'' (1925), poems * ''Madame Béliard'' (1925), theatre play * ''Prolongement'' (1927), poems * ''D’un voyage au Japon'' (1927), travel story * ''La Brouille'' (1930), ''The Misunderstanding'', theatre play * ''La Colonie'' (1930), children's novel (sequel to ''L'Île rose'') * ''Les Lunettes du lion'' (1932), children's tale * ''La famille Moineau'' (1932), children's tale * ''Le Jardinier de Samos'' (1932), theatre play * ''Milot'' (1933), children's tale * ''Bridinette'' (1935), children's tale * ''Poucette'' (1936), theatre play * ''L'œuvre peinte d' Eugène Dabit'' (1937), monographie * ''Russie neuve'' (1938), travel story * ''L'Air du temps'' (1938), theatre play * ''Trois mois de prison'' (1942) * ''L'Honneur des poètes'' (1943]), volume of poems published by the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

; Vildrac's contribution appears under the pseudonym Robert Barade * ''Lazare'' (1945), in ''Chroniques de Minuit'',

Les Éditions de Minuit Les Éditions de Minuit (, ''Midnight Press'') is a French publishing house. It was founded in 1941, during the French Resistance of World War II, and is still publishing books today. History Les Éditions de Minuit was founded by writer and i ...

, p. 15-39 * ''Les Pères ennemis'' (1946), ''The Enemy Fathers'', theatre play * ''D'après l'écho'' (1949) * ''Amadou le Bouquillon'' (1951), children's tale * ''Les Jouets du Père Noël'' (1952), ''The Toys of Father Christmas'' * ''Pages de journal'' (1968)

Notes and references

* France, Peter (Ed.) (1995). ''The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. .

External links

Poems by Charles Vildrac
1882 births 1971 deaths French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French male writers {{France-poet-stub