Michel Tournier (; 19 December 1924 − 18 January 2016) was a French writer. He won awards such as the ''

Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française Le Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1914, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French litera ...

'' in 1967 for '' Friday, or, The Other Island'' and the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

for '' The Erl-King'' in 1970. His inspirations included traditional German culture,

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the philosophies of

Gaston Bachelard Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter, he introduced the concepts of ''epistemological obstacle'' and '' epis ...

. He resided in

Choisel Choisel () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. People *Michel Tournier See also *Communes of the Yvelines department An intentional community is a voluntary residential communit ...

and was a member of the

Académie Goncourt The Société littéraire des Goncourt (Goncourt Literary Society), usually called the Académie Goncourt (Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1900 by the French writer and publisher Edmond de G ...

. His autobiography has been translated and published as ''The Wind Spirit'' (Beacon Press, 1988). He was on occasion in contention for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Biography

Born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

of parents who met at the Sorbonne while studying German, Tournier spent his youth in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He learned German early, staying each summer in Germany. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and at the university of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

and attended Maurice de Gandillac's course. He wished to teach philosophy at high-school but, like his father, failed to obtain the French

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''profe ...

. Tournier joined

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

as a journalist and translator and hosted ''L'heure de la culture française''. In 1954 he worked in advertisement for Europe 1. He also collaborated for ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' and ''

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 newspapers of r ...

''. From 1958 to 1968, Tournier was the chief editor of Plon. In 1967 Tournier published his first book, ''

Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique ''Friday, or, The Other Island'' (french: Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique) is a 1967 novel by French writer Michel Tournier. It retells Daniel Defoe's '' Robinson Crusoe''. The first edition of the book was published 15 March 1967. It won t ...

'', a retelling of

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

's ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'', for which he was awarded the ''

''. He co-founded in 1970, with the Arles photographer

Lucien Clergue Lucien Clergue (; 14 August 1934 – 15 November 2014) was a French photographer. He was Chairman of the Academy of Fine Arts, Paris for 2013. Biography Lucien Clergue was born in Arles, France. At the age of 7 he began learning to play the ...

and the historian

Jean-Maurice Rouquette Jean-Maurice Rouquette (1930 – 22 January 2019) was a French historian, specializing in ancient and Romanesque Provence, and curator at the Musée de l'Arles et de la Provence antiques. Biography Rouquette studied at Aix-Marseille University ...

, the Rencontres d'Arles. At the same time he produced for television some fifty issues of the monthly program ''Chambre noire'', devoted to photography interviewing a photographer for each program. Tournier died on 18 January 2016 in

, France at the age of 91.

Selected works

* ''

'' (''Friday'') (1967) -

* ''

Le Roi des aulnes ''The Erl-King'' (french: Le Roi des aulnes) is a 1970 novel by the French writer Michel Tournier. It is also known as ''The Ogre''. It tells the story of a man who recruits children to be Nazis in the belief that he is protecting them. The novel ...

'' (1970) (''The Erl-King'' translated 1972 by

Barbara Bray Barbara Bray (née Jacobs; 24 November 1924 – 25 February 2010) was an English translator and critic. Early life Bray was born in Maida Vale, London; her parents had Belgian and Jewish origins. An identical twin (her sister Olive Classe was al ...

, a.k.a. ''The Ogre'') * ''Le Roi des aulnes'' was made into a 1996 movie ''Der Unhold'' ( ''The Ogre'') directed by

Volker Schlöndorff Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939 Friday) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s ...

and has also been adapted for the stage by Tom Perrin in 2002. * ''Les Météores'' (''Gemini'', 1975) * ''Le Vent Paraclet'' (''The Wind Spirit'', 1977) * ''Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage'' (''Friday and Robinson'', 1972) * ''Le Coq de bruyère'' (''The Fetishist and Other Stories'', 1978) * ''Gaspard, Melchior et Balthazar'' (''The Four Wise Men'', 1980) * ''Le Vol du vampire'' (1981) * ''Gilles et Jeanne'' (''Gilles and Jeanne'', 1983) * ''La Goutte d'or'' (''The Golden Droplet'', 1986) * ''Petites Proses'' (1986) * ''Le Medianoche amoureux'' (''The Midnight Love Feast'', 1989) * ''La Couleuvrine'' (1994) * ''Le Miroir des idées'' (''The Mirror of Ideas'', 1994) * ''Eléazar ou la Source et le Buisson'' (''Eleazar, Exodus to the West'', 1996) * ''Journal extime'' (2002)

Notes

References

* Jean-Louis de Rambures, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with M. Tournier)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tournier, Michel 1924 births 2016 deaths 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists Writers from Paris Prix Goncourt winners University of Paris alumni Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française winners French male novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers

Biography

Selected works

Notes

References

Further reading

External links