Nora Mitrani (1921–1961) was a Bulgarian writer, one of the most active

surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the 1950s.

Life

Nora Mitrani was born on 29 November 1921, in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

.Mitrani, Nora, 1921-1961

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. Accessed 21 December 2020. Her parents were Spanish-Jewish and Italian.

Michel Mitrani Michel Mitrani (1930 - 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He was the founder of the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels in 1987. His 1974 film ''Black Thursday (film), Les Guichets du Louvre'' was entered into the 24t ...

was a younger brother.Nora Mitrani
''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

''. Accessed 21 December 2020. As a teenager, Mitrani moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. She studied philosophy at

the Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. ** Sorbonne Chapel *The University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) **Its components/successor ...

, completing a PhD on Malebranche and

Maine de Biran François-Pierre-Gontier de Biran (; 29 November 176620 July 1824), usually known as Maine de Biran (), was a French philosopher. Life Maine de Biran was born in Bergerac. He assumed the name Maine (sometime before 1787) from his father's esta ...

. For many years she worked under

Georges Gurvitch Georges Gurvitch (; October 20, 1894, Novorossiysk – December 12, 1965, Paris) was a Russian-born French sociologist and jurist. One of the leading sociologists of his times, he was a specialist in the sociology of knowledge. In 1944 he founde ...

, as a sociologist and researcher at the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

. During the war she was a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

. She joined the

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

movement in 1947 and remained an outspoken member of the movement throughout her life. In the early 1930s surrealists objected to

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

, Mitrani expressing her opposition in these terms: “The collective massacres of these last few years have proven only too well that the crime of passion had ceased to be a solitary and magnificent mystery, but instead organized itself, crumbled into office files, into racial laws, faded into concepts of the Good and the Honorable”. Her written works covered a wide array of topics such as the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

, popular culture, Kierkegaard,

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

, and critical studies of

technocracy Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

, and

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy, the pot ...

. Most of her surrealist works were collected and published in 1988 under the title ''Rose au Coeur Violet''. In 1947–1948, she lived with

Hans Bellmer Hans Bellmer (13 March 1902 – 24 February 1975) was a German artist, best known for his drawings, etchings that illustrates the 1940 edition of '' Histoire de l’œil'', and the life-sized female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. In 1949, he tried to break from the relationship by moving to

. She died on 22 March 1961 in

Works

* "Attitudes et symboles techno-bureaucratiques", ''Cahiers internationaux de sociologie'', XXIV, 148 * ''Rose au cœur violet'', 1988. * ' Intention and surprise', in Paul Hammond, ed.,''The shadow and its shadow: surrealist writings on the cinema'', 3rd.ed, 2000.

References

1921 births 1961 deaths Bulgarian surrealist writers Bulgarian sociologists Bulgarian women sociologists Writers from Sofia Bulgarian people of Italian descent Bulgarian people of Spanish descent 20th-century Bulgarian writers 20th-century Bulgarian women writers Bulgarian expatriates in France {{Bulgaria-writer-stub