Jean Grosjean (born in Paris on 21 December 1912, died at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

on 10 April 2006) was a

French poet List of poets French poetry, who have written in the French language: A Céline Arnauld (1885-1952) * Louise-Victorine Ackermann (1813–1890) * Adam de la Halle (v.1250 – v.1285) * Dominique Aguessy (1937– ) * Pierre Albert-Birot (1876–1 ...

, writer and translator.

Overview

After a childhood in the provinces, he became an engineering fitter. He entered the seminary of Saint Sulpice in

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called in French. It is one of Paris's entrances and is located from Notre Dame Cathedral, whic ...

in 1933. After military service in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

he travelled throughout the Middle East, to Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Iraq. He was ordained as a priest in 1939, and then mobilized. Imprisoned in 1940, he met

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

, Claude Gallimard and Roger Judrin during his captivity in

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

, companions who remained close friends for the rest of his life. It was in the "Metamorphoses" by

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine '' Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963– ...

, published by Gallimard in 1946, that the first of his works appeared, 'Terre du temps ', a series of poetic notes. Remaining faithful to his publisher, he participated very actively in the life of the Nouvelle Revue francaise with

Marcel Arland Marcel Arland (5 July 1899, Varennes-sur-Amance, Haute-Marne – 12 January 1986, Haute-Marne) was a French novelist, literary critic, and journalist. Biography With René Crevel and Roger Vitrac he founded the dadaist newspaper ''Aventu ...

Dominique Aury Anne Cécile Desclos (23 September 1907 – 27 April 1998) was a French literary critic, 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). E ...

and later

Georges Lambrichs Georges Lambrichs (5 July 1917 – 9 February 1992) was a French writer, literary critic and editor. Life Labrichts was born in Brussels. After studying philosophy, he met Jean Paulhan in 1937 of whom he became a "companion of intellectual resi ...

. In 1950, he left the priesthood, married and bought a property at Avant-lès-Marcilly, in the

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

, where he spent most of his time. He now found himself working mostly on translations of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, the Koran and the Bible. In 1989 he created, along with Jean-Marie Le Clézio, the collection "L'Aube des peuples".

Works

Poetry

* Terre du temps (Gallimard, 1946, prix de la Pléiade) * Hypostases (Gallimard, 1950) * Le Livre du Juste (Gallimard, 1952) * Fils de l'Homme (Gallimard, 1954, Prix Max Jacob) * Majestés et Passants (Gallimard, 1956) * Austrasie (Gallimard,1960) * Apocalypse (Gallimard, 1962) * Hiver (Gallimard, 1964) * Élégies (Gallimard, 1967, prix des Critiques) lso available in a translation by Keith Waldrop from paradigm press* La Gloire, précédé de Apocalypse, Hiver et Élégies (Poésie/Gallimard, 1969) * La Lueur des jours (Gallimard, 1991) * Nathanaël (Gallimard, 1996) * Cantilènes (Gallimard, 1998) * Les Vasistas (Gallimard, 2000) * Les Parvis (Gallimard, 2003) * La Rumeur des cortèges (Gallimard, 2005) * Arpèges et paraboles (Gallimard, 2007)

Prose

* Clausewitz (Gallimard, 1972) * Le Messie (Gallimard, 1974) * Les Beaux Jours (Gallimard, 1980) * Élie (Gallimard, 1982) * Darius (Gallimard, 1983) * Pilate (Gallimard, 1983) * Jonas (Gallimard, 1985) * Kleist (Gallimard, 1985) * La Reine de Saba (Gallimard, 1987) * Samson (Gallimard, 1988) * Samuel (Gallimard, 1994) * Adam et Ève (Gallimard, 1997) * Les Parvis (Gallimard, 2003)

Translations

* La Bible. Le Nouveau Testament, éd. et trad. par Jean Grosjean, Michel Léturmy et Paul Gros (Gallimard, coll. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1971) * Le Coran (Ph. Lebaud, 1979) * L'Ironie christique – commentaire de l'Évangile selon Jean (Gallimard, 1991) * Lecture de l'Apocalypse (Gallimard, 1994) * Les Versets de la sagesse (Ph. Lebaud, 1996)

Biography

*Jean Grosjean by Jean-Luc Maxence (Seghers, coll. Poètes d'aujourd'hui, 2005) *Jean Grosjean ou Les Saisond de la foi by Alain Bosquet(Nouvelle Revue Français n°174,1967) *Où passent les anges... by Anne Debeaux(Nouvelle Revue Français n°389,Paris,1985) *L'Entretien des Muses,Paris,Gallimard.1968 by Phillippe Jaccottet.

External links

Portrait de Jean Grosjean

Notes

*''This article is based on the equivalent article from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

, consulted on 1 February 2009.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosjean, Jean 1912 births 2006 deaths Writers from Paris French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French translators 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers