Robert Merle

Robert Merle (; 28 August 1908 – 27 March 2004) was a French novelist.

Early life

Merle was born in 1908 in Tébessa, French Algeria. His father Félix, who was an interpreter "with a perfect knowledge of literary and spoken Arabic", was killed in 1916 in the Dardanelles. Young Merle and his mother moved to Paris, where he attended three lycées and the Sorbonne.

Career

Academia and World War II

Merle was professor of English Literature at several universities until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. During the war, Merle was conscripted into the French army and assigned as an interpreter to the British Expeditionary Force. In 1940, he was in the Dunkirk evacuation on the beach of Zuydcoote — which he called a "blind and abominable lottery" — and was captured by the Germans. Merle was taken prisoner to Stalag VID at Dortmund, and escaped, but was recaptured at Belgian customs. He was repatriated in July 1943, and after the war was awarded the Croix du Combattant.

Writing

Merle used his experiences at Dunkirk in his 1949 novel ''Week-end at Zuydcoote'', which became a "sensational success" and won the Prix Goncourt. A 1964 feature film adaptation, '' Weekend at Dunkirk'', was directed by Henri Verneuil and starred Jean-Paul Belmondo. It was a box office hit and made both men famous.

Merle's 1967 novel '' Un animal doué de raison'' (lit. ''A Sentient Animal''), a stark Cold War satire inspired by John Lilly's studies of dolphins and the Caribbean Crisis, was translated into English and filmed as ''The Day of the Dolphin'' (1973) starring George C. Scott. Merle's post-apocalyptic novel '' Malevil'' (1972) was also adapted into a 1981 film. His 1952 novel '' La mort est mon métier'' was adapted into a 1977 film, his 1962 novel ''L'île'' was filmed as a 1987 miniseries and ''Le propre de l'homme'' (1989) was adapted into a 1996 TV movie.

Among Merle's other works are the 1950 play ''Flamineo'', based on John Webster's '' The White Devil'', the 1948 biography ''Oscar Wilde'' (extended in 1955 as ''Oscar Wilde, or The Destiny of Homosexuality''), and various translations including Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels''. In 1965 Merle wrote ''Moncada: premier combat de Fidel Castro'' and ''Ahmed Ben Bella'', and around this time translated the diaries of Che Guevara. Until the invasion of Afghanistan by the Red Army, Merle was a sympathizer of the French Communist Party. He said:

Merle's "major achievement" was his 13-book series of historical novels, '' Fortune de France'' (1977–2003), which recreate 16th and 17th century France through the eyes of a fictitious Protestant doctor turned spy. A "genuine scholar of language", Merle wrote the novels using many of the appropriate French speech rhythms and idioms of the historical period. The series made Merle a household name in France, with the author repeatedly called the Alexandre Dumas of the 20th century.

Personal life

Merle was married three times, and had four sons and two daughters. He died in 2004 at age 95 of a heart attack in Montfort-l'Amaury, France.

Bibliography

* ''Week-end à Zuydcoote'' (1949) - Published in the U.S. as ''Week-end at Zuydcoote'' (1950)
* ''La mort est mon métier'' (1952) - Published in the UK as '' Death is my Trade'' (1954)
* ''L'île'' (1962) - Published in the U.S. as ''The Island'' (1964)
* ''Moncada, premier combat de Fidel Castro'' (1965)
* '' Un animal doué de raison'' (1967) - Published in the U.S. as ''The Day of the Dolphin'' (1967)
* ''Derrière la vitre'' (1970) - Published in the U.S. as ''Behind the Glass'' (1972)
* '' Malevil'' (1972)
* ''Les hommes protégés'' (1974) - Published in the U.S. as ''The Virility Factor'' (1977)
* ''Madrapour'' (1976)
* ''L'idole'' (1987) - Published in the U.S. as ''The Idol'' (1987)
* ''Le jour ne se lève pas pour nous'' (1987)
* ''Le propre de l'homme'' (1989)

'' Fortune de France'' series (1977-2003)

# ''Fortune de France'' (1977)
# ''En nos vertes années'' (1979)
# ''Paris ma bonne ville'' (1980)
# ''Le Prince que voilà'' (1982)
# ''La violente amour'' (1983)
# ''La Pique du jour'' (1985)
# ''La Volte des vertugadins'' (1991)
# ''L’Enfant-Roi'' (1993)
# ''Les Roses de la vie'' (1995)
# ''Le Lys et la Pourpre'' (1997)
# ''La Gloire et les Périls'' (1999)
# ''Complots et Cabales'' (2001)
# ''Le Glaive et les amours'' (2003) (English: ''Love and the Sword'')

Reception

Kirkup called the ''Fortune de France'' series "spectacular" and dubbed it Merle's "major achievement". Douglas Johnson of ''The Guardian'' described the author as "a master of the historical novel". The series made Merle a household name in France, and he has been repeatedly called the Alexandre Dumas of the 20th century. ''Le Monde'' dubbed Merle "France's greatest popular novelist", and ''Le Figaro'' observed, "Robert Merle is one of the very few French writers who have attained both popular success and the admiration of critics."

Writing for ''The Wall Street Journal'', Allan Massie praised Merle's "thorough research, depth of understanding and popular touch", noting that "one of the strengths of Merle’s novels in his ability to evoke the feeling and texture of everyday life as well as high politics". Massie compared the first novel in Merle's series to Maurice Druon's '' The Accursed Kings'' (''Les Rois maudits''), another famed French historical novel series, writing "There is a philosophical depth to the novel absent from Druon, for the Brethren are attracted to the Reformed Protestant (or Huguenot) faith ... Though not as gripping as ''The Accursed Kings'', ''The Brethren'' never strays, as Druon sometimes does, into the grotesque. It has a credibly human solidity." Toby Clements of ''The Telegraph'' wrote, "There are set-piece discussions on the dilemmas of faith that are informative if not the stuff of high drama, and passages on the history of France that can only be made sense of with the aid of a map and a memory for names. But elsewhere there is much colour, and, overall, ''The Brethren'' gives a salty and plausible idea of just how different, odd and parlous life might have been."

As of 2014, ''Fortune de France'' had sold over five million copies in France.

References

External links

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Small picture

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merle, Robert
1908 births
2004 deaths
People from Tébessa
People of French Algeria
Pieds-noirs
French historical novelists
French male novelists
20th-century French novelists
French science fiction writers
20th-century French male writers
Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni
Prix Goncourt winners
Grand prix Jean Giono recipients
French Army personnel of World War II
French prisoners of war in World War II
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
French escapees
Escapees from German detention
Emigrants from French Algeria to France