Marcel Jouhandeau
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Marcel Jouhandeau (; 26 July 18887 April 1979) was a French
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...
.


Biography

Born in
Guéret Guéret (; Occitan: ''Garait'') is a commune and the prefecture of the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography Guéret is a light industrial town, the largest in the department, with a big woodland a ...
,
Creuse Creuse (; or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the east, Cor ...
, France, Marcel Jouhandeau grew up in a world of women presided over by his grandmother. Under the influence of a young woman from the Carmel of
Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...
, he embraced a spiritual form of
Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and considered entering the orders for a time. However, in 1908 he left for Paris where he studied first at the
Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV () is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges ('' lycées'') in France. The school educates more ...
, and then at the Sorbonne, where he began to write. In 1912 he became a professor at a school at Passy. In his youth, Marcel Jouhandeau began experiencing homosexual urges. Although he felt guilty and believed he was offending God, his feelings of shame did not prevent him from engaging in numerous homosexual acts. Throughout his life, Jouhandeau alternated between celebrating the male body and feeling mortified in regards to his sexuality. In 1914, during a spiritual crisis, he burned his manuscripts and attempted suicide. Once the crisis had passed, he turned again to writing. He created ''Pincegrain'', the village chronicles that brought him his first literary success. During World War I, he was a secretary in his hometown of Guéret. In 1924, he published ''Pincegrain'', a chronicle of the inhabitants of Guéret, which shocked the people of the town. His voyages became an opportunity to indulge in homosexuality, as he recounted in the ''Amateur d'imprudences''. At age 40, he married a dancer, Élisabeth (Elise) Toulemont, known as Caryathis, the former mistress of Charles Dullin and an intimate friend of
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
and Max Jacob. She hoped to rid him of his homosexual leanings. During this period he undertook a work of Christian moralism (''De l'abjection'') before, much to the dismay of his wife, tumbling again into the arms of men, which he wrote about in ''Chronique d'une passion'', ''Eloge de la volupté'' and ''Tirésias''. Nevertheless, Jouhandeau and his wife adopted a girl named Céline, who gave birth to Jouhandeau's grandson, Marc. Following Élise's death in 1971, Jouhandeau lived his last days in
Rueil-Malmaison Rueil-Malmaison () or simply Rueil is a Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department, Île-de-France Regions of France, region. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is ...
with Marc. In 1938, Jouhandeau published four
anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
articles in a short volume, "Le Péril Juif" (The Jewish Peril). During the Nazi
occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an Military Administration (Nazi Germany), interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western French Third ...
, he accepted Goebbels' invitation to visit Germany. David M. Halperin, ''What Do Gay Men Want? An Essay on Sex, Risk, and Subjectivity'', Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007, p. 71.


Bibliography

* La jeunesse de Théophile (1921) * Les Pincengrain (1924) * Prudence Hautechaume (1927) * Monsieur Godeau intime (1926) * L'amateur d'imprudences (1932) * Monsieur Godeau marié (1933) * Chaminadour (1934–1941) * Algèbre des valeurs morales (1935) * Le Peril Juif, Editions Sorlot, 1938. * Chroniques maritales (1938) * De l'abjection (1939) * Essai sur moi-même (1947) * Scènes de la vie conjugale (1948) * Mémorial (1948) * La faute plutôt que le scandale (1949) * Chronique d'une passion (1949) * Eloge de la volupté (1951) * Dernières années et mort de Véronique (1953) * Contes d'enfer (1955) * Léonara ou les dangers de la vertu (1955) * Carnets de l'écrivain (1957) * L'école des filles (1960) * Journaliers (1961–1978) * Les instantanés de la mémoire (1962) * Trois crimes rituels (1962) * Le Pur Amour (1970) * Pages égarées (1980)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jouhandeau, Marcel 1888 births 1979 deaths People from Guéret French collaborators with Nazi Germany People affiliated with Action Française 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French diarists French gay writers Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Lycée Henri-IV alumni 20th-century French male writers