Alexis Curvers (24 February 1906, Liège – 7 February 1992) was a French-speaking Belgian writer. He was married to hellenist

Marie Delcourt Marie Delcourt (Ixelles, 18 November 1891 – Liège, 11 February 1979) was a Belgian classical philologist. She studied at the University of Liège (ULg), and obtained a PhD in classical philology in 1919. Under the German occupation of Belgium d ...

Biography

Alexis Curvers' mother died when he was three years old and his father when he was nineteen. He followed the courses of

at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...

. Appointed a professor of rhetoric at Alexandria, he returned to Liege where he married Marie Delcourt. In 1933 he published an article entitled ''De l'objection de conscience'' which led him to be excluded from teaching. In 1940, he took refuge in the south of France, where he met other writers at Mme Mayrisch, before he returned to Liège. In 1957, his novel ''Tempo di Roma'', rejected by

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by G ...

but published by

Éditions Robert Laffont Éditions Robert Laffont () is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by (1916–2010). Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium. Imprints belonging to Édit ...

thanks to Marie de Vivier (pen name of Marie Jacquart, writer from Belgium) achieved great success. ''Tempo di Roma'' obtained the

Prix Sainte-Beuve The Prix Sainte-Beuve, established in 1946, is a French literary prize awarded each year to a writer in the categories "novels" (or "poetry") and "essays" (or "critics"); it is named after the writer Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve. The founding jury ...

in 1957 and was adapted to the cinema by

Denys de La Patellière Denys de La Patellière (8 March 1921 in Nantes, France – 21 July 2013) was a French film director and scriptwriter. He also directed Television series. He died in 2013 at the age of 92. Biography The son of an officer, Denys de La Patell ...

in 1963 under the same title: '. In 1960, Alexis Curvers received the prix littéraire Prince-Pierre-de-Monaco for all his work.

Works

Novels

*1937: ''Bourg-le-Rond'', Paris, Gallimard, (with Jean Sarrazin, Jean Hubaux's pen name) *1939: ''Printemps chez des ombres'', Paris, Gallimard, (prix Auguste-Beernaert) *1957: ''Tempo di Roma'', Paris, Robert Laffont

Short stories

*1942: ''La Famille Passager'', études et contes, Brussels, Libris, 1942. (Coll. Le balancier, 8). *1958: ''Mercredi des cendres'', in ''Vingt nouvelles belges'', Verviers, Marabout, 1958. (Coll. Melio) p. 66 sqq. *1955: ''Entre deux anges'', chroniques et nouvelles, Brussels, Audace et le Rond-Point, 1955. *1967: ''Jean ou le monastère des deux saints Jean'', in ''Prénoms'' (Paris, Plon, 1967) *1937: ''Le Ruban chinois'' in ''Reflets'', Brussels, Noël *1954: ''Le Massacre des innocents et Le ruban chinois'', Paris, Les belles lectures

Poetry

* ''Cahier de poésie (1922-1949)'', typography François Bernouard, Paris, 1949. * ''La Flûte enchantée'', Cahiers d'art poétique, published in Liège from 1953 to 1962.

Theatre

* ''Ce vieil Œdipe'', four-act satirical drama, prose and verse, after Sophocles, Brussels, De Visscher, 1947. (Coll. du Rideau de Bruxelles).

Essais and critics

* ''De l'objection de conscience, état de la question'', ''le Flambeau'', June 1933 and Brussels, Finacom, 1933. * ''Sur la réforme de l'orthographe et la pédagogie nouvelle, réflexions d'un observateur'', in "Bulletin de l' Académie Royale de Langue et de Littérature Françaises de Belgique", 1954. Reproduit dans le Bulletin de l'Association des Classiques de l'Université de Liège, nE2, 1954, p. 8-22. * ''Pie XII, le pape outragé'', Paris, Laffont, 1964. (Second edition revised and expanded: Pie XII, le pape outragé; Bonne nuit très saint Père; petite histoire anecdotique de ce livre, s.l., Dominique Martin Morin, 1988.) * ''La théologie secrète de la prétendue Adoration de l'Agneau'', in "Approches de l'Art", mélanges d'esthétique et de sciences de l'Art presented to Arsène Soreil, Brussels, Renaissance du Livre, 1973. * ''Une clef architecturale de l'Agneau mystique des frères Van Eyck'', in "Il était douze fois Liège", Liège, Mardaga, 1980. *', by Alexis Curvers and Marie Curvers-Delcourt, Antwerp, De Sikkel, s.d. (monographs on Belgian art, 5th série, nE7). *''Entretien Georges Moucheron - Alexis Curvers'', Mons, R.T.B.F., centre de production du Hainaut, s.d.

Collaborations

* Alexis Curvers collabiorated with the magazines ''Les cahiers mosans'', ''Le courrier des poètes'', ''La gaillarde'', ''Revue Générale Belge'', ''Marginales'', ''Raf'', ''Savoir et beauté'', ''Le flambeau'', ''Synthèses'', ''Empreintes'', ''Cahiers du Nord'', ''Itinéraires'', ''Lecture et tradition''... * Participation to the anthology ''Il était douze fois Liège'', Liège, 1980 considered as a response to ''La Belgique malgré tout'' by published the same year prior to the (1983) which Curvers didn't sign.

References

Bibliography

* * ''Alexis Curvers, l'homme et l'œuvre'', n° spécial de la revue ''Ouvertures'', 1981 * S. et N. De Winter, "Alexis Curvers", in ''André Malraux, Alexis Curvers, Francis Ponge'', Brussels, Hatier, Auteurs contemporains, 1986, p. 45-67. * "Alexis Curvers, pour son 80ème anniversaire", ''Itinéraires'', n° 306, sept.-oct. 1986. * Marie de Vivier, "Alexis Curvers", ''Le Thyrse'', n°59, 1957.

External links

Alexis Curvers
on Babelio
“Tempo di Roma”, d’Alexis Curvers, présenté par Christian Libens
(video)
Alexis Curvers
on Culture, Université de Liège
Catherine Gravet, Alexis Curvers, Journal (1924-1961)
on OpenEdition

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curvers, Alexis University of Liège alumni Belgian writers in French Walloon people 1906 births 1992 deaths Writers from Liège Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique