Thomas Narcejac

Boileau-Narcejac () is the pen name used by the French crime-writing duo of Pierre Boileau (28 April 1906 – 16 January 1989) and Pierre Ayraud, also known as Thomas Narcejac (3 July 1908 – 7 June 1998). Their successful collaboration produced 43 novels, 100 short stories and 4 plays. They are credited with having helped to form an authentically French subgenre of crime fiction with the emphasis on local settings and mounting psychological suspense. They are noted for the ingenuity of their plots and the skillful evocation of the mood of disorientation and fear. Their works were adapted into numerous films, most notably, '' Les Diaboliques'' (1955), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, and ''Vertigo'' (1958), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Biography

Pierre Louis Boileau was born on 28 April 1906 in Paris, the son of Léon and Maria Boileau (n''é''e Guillaud). His studies prepared him for a career in commerce, but he had been passionate about detective fiction since childhood. He changed several occupations while also contributing short stories and novellas to various newspapers and magazines. Then he wrote a series of novels about André Brunel, a dapper private detective specialized in difficult cases. Boileau's novel ''Le repos de Bacchus'' was awarded the prestigious Prix du Roman d'Aventures in 1938. He was drafted during World War II, taken prisoner in June 1940, and spent two years in a stalag, where he met Jean-Paul Sartre. Boileau was released from the camp due to his medical condition. He returned to Paris in 1942, and enlisted as a social worker for the Secours National, an organization helping the disadvantaged. His work involved visiting penal colonies and interviewing criminals. He resumed his writing career in 1945 with the novel ''L'Assassin vient les mains vides'', and scripting a couple of successful radio series in 1945–1947.

Pierre Ayraud was born on 3 July 1908 in Rochefort-sur-Mer to a family of seamen. He lost one eye in a childhood accident, which prevented him from going into a seafaring business. In his youth, he used to go fishing on the Charente river near two hamlets called St. Thomas and Narcejac, and he remembered them when picking his pen name – "Thomas Narcejac". He studied at the universities of Bordeaux, Poitiers and Paris where he received degrees in literature and philosophy. He moved to Nantes in 1945, where he became a professor of philosophy and literature at the Lycée Georges-Clemenceau, and held this position until his retirement in 1967.

Narcejac began writing pastiches of various crime fiction authors which were published in the collections ''Confidences dans ma nuit'' (1946) and ''Nouvelles confidences dans ma nuit'' (1947). At the same time, he wrote his first crime novel ''L'Assassin de minuit'' (1945). Narcejac also partnered with Serge Arcouët, who used the pseudonym "Terry Stewart", to produce a series of novels imitating American thrillers. They were published under the joint pen name "John-Silver Lee".

In 1947, Narcejac also published an essay titled ''L'esthétique du roman policier'' ("The Esthetics of the Crime Novel") which drew Pierre Boileau's attention. The two writers began to correspond and finally met at the awards dinner in 1948, where Narcejac was receiving the Prix du Roman d'Aventures for his novel ''La mort est du voyage''. Two years later, they began writing together, with Boileau providing the plots and Narcejac the atmosphere and characterisation, not unlike Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee ("Ellery Queen").

Their first collaborative effort, ''L’ombre et la proie'' (1951), published under the name "Alain Bouccarèje" (the anagram of Boileau-Narcejac), went largely unnoticed. Their second novel '' She Who Was No More'' (1952), signed "Boileau-Narcejac", became their breakthrough, and was later filmed by Henri-Georges Clouzot as '' Les Diaboliques''. Their success was further sealed when Alfred Hitchcock adapted '' The Living and the Dead'' (1954) as ''Vertigo'' in 1958.

Boileau and Narcejac also worked as screenwriters, most notably on the adaptation of the novel by Jean Redon into the horror movie known in English as '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960).

Their works often flirted with the fantastic and the macabre, erupting full-blown in their novel ''Et mon tout est un homme'' (published in English as ''Choice Cuts'') which received the Grand Prix de l’Humour Noir in 1965.

In 1964, they published ''Le Roman policier,'' a theoretical study of the crime genre.

In the 1970s, Boileau and Narcejac received the permission from the Maurice Leblanc estate to write new adventures of Arsène Lupin. They also wrote the "Sans Atout" series for younger readers, about a boy detective.

Their collaboration ended with Boileau's death on 16 January 1989 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. The last novel containing his contribution was ''J'ai été un fantôme'' ("I was a ghost") published later that year. Narcejac continued writing alone, still signing his works as "Boileau-Narcejac". He died on 7 June 1998 in Nice