Roger Vercel (born Roger Cretin; 8 January 1894, in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

– 26 February 1957, in

Dinan Dinan (; ) is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan. Geography Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead o ...

) was a French writer.

Biography

Vercel was fascinated by the sea and marine life. Although he virtually never went to sea, most of his novels featured a maritime setting.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

interrupted his studies of letters. Early in the war his poor eyesight left him a stretcher-bearer on the battlefields of northern and eastern France. Because of a shortage of army officers, he returned to Saint-Cyr. He ended the war on the eastern front, and was discharged a year after the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

. He returned to Dinan, where in 1921 he was appointed professor at the College of Letters. He earned a doctorate in letters in 1927, with a thesis entitled: "The images in the work of Corneille". The Académie française awarded it the Saintour prize of literary history. Dinan extinguished it in 1957. His war memories inspired some of his earlier books: ''Our Father Trajan'', ''Captain Conan'', ''Lena'', but the maritime world makes up the heart of his work. ''Off Eden'' earned him the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

from the France-America Committee in 1932. He won 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 ...

in 1934 for ''Capitaine Conan''. Several of his works were brought to the screen: * ''Trailers'', 1941 (dir. Jean Gremillion, with Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan, Madeleine Renaud, Fernand Ledoux) * ''Duguesclin'', 1949 (dir. Bernard de Latour, with Gisele Casadesus, Louis de Funès Gérard Oury) * ''The murky waters'', 1949 (dir. Henri Calef, with Jean Vilar, Ginette Leclerc, André Valmy, Mouloudji) is based on the new blades Deaf. * ''The great bulwarks'', 1954 (dir. Jacques Pinoteau Courcel Nicole Marie Mansard, Jean-Pierre Mocky) * '' Captain Conan'', 1996 (dir.

Bertrand Tavernier Bertrand Tavernier (25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French director, screenwriter, actor and producer. Life and career Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, s ...

, Philippe Torreton, Samuel Le Bihan, Bernard Le Coq)

Sources

* Simone Vercel, "Roger Vercel, my father." in ''L'Humanite'', September 19, 1996. * Erwann Letilleul ''Roger Vercel, maritime writer,'' Chasse-tidal No. 142, p. 24-35, April 2001. * Jacques Georgel, "Roger Vercel" biography. Apogee Publishing, 2006, 189 p.

Works

Studies

* ''Les images dans l'œuvre de Corneille'', thèse pour le doctorat ès lettres, A. Olivier, 1927. * ''Lexique comparé des métaphores dans le théâtre de Corneille et de Racine'', thèse complémentaire pour le doctorat ès-lettres, A. Olivier, 1927. * ''Un programme d'éducation générale in Disciplines d'action'', Vichy, Paris, Commissariat général à l'éducation générale et aux sports, 1942.

Novels

* ''Notre père Trajan'', Albin Michel, 1930. * ''En Dérive'', Albin Michel, 1931. * ''Au Large de l'Eden,'' Albin Michel, 1932. * ''Le maître du rêve'', Albin Michel, 1933. * ''Capitaine Conan'', Albin Michel, 1934. ( Film: 1996) * ''Remorques'', Albin Michel, 1935. Les Bibliophiles de France, 1957 ( Film: 1941) * ''Léna'', Albin Michel, 1936. * ''Sous le pied de l'archange'', Albin Michel, 1937. * ''Jean Villemeur'', Albin Michel, 1939. * ''La Hourie'', Albin Michel, 1942. * ''Aurore boréale'', Albin Michel, 1947. * ''La caravane de Pâques'', Albin Michel, 1948. (illustrations par Frédéric Back) * ''La fosse aux vents'' : ** I.- ''Ceux de la Galatée'', Albin Michel, 1949. ** II.- ''La peau du Diable'', Albin Michel, 1950. ** II.- ''Atalante'', Albin Michel, 1951. * ''Visage perdu'', Albin Michel, 1953. * ''L'Île des revenants'', Albin Michel, 1954. * ''Été indien'', Albin Michel, 1956.

Biographies

* ''Du Guesclin'', Albin Michel, 1932; Éditions Arc-en-ciel, 1944 (illustrations by Frédéric Back); Editions de la Nouvelle France, 1944 (illustration by Jacques Lechantre). * ''Le Bienheureux Charles de Blois'', Albin Michel, 1942. * ''Nos vaillants capitaines'', Impr. de Curial-Archereau, 1945. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vercel, Roger 1894 births 1957 deaths 20th-century French novelists Prix Goncourt winners French military personnel of World War I People from Le Mans People from Dinan French male novelists 20th-century French male writers