Marcel Aymé


Marcel Aymé was a French novelist and playwright, who also wrote screenplays and works for children.

Biography

Marcel André Aymé was born in Joigny, in the Burgundy region of France, the youngest of six children. His father, Joseph, was a blacksmith, and his mother, Emma Monamy, died when he was two years old, after the family had moved to Tours. Marcel was sent to live with his maternal grandparents in the village of Villers-Robert, a place where he would spend the next eight years, and which would serve as the model for the fictitious village of Claquebue in what is perhaps the most well-known of his novels, La Jument verte. In 1906 Marcel entered the local primary school. Because his grandfather was a staunch anti-clerical republican, he was looked down upon by his classmates, many of whose parents held more traditional views. Accordingly, Marcel was not baptized before reaching the age of eight, nearly two years after the death of his grandfather in 1908. Orphaned once more when his grandmother died two years later, he briefly lived with other family members before moving to Dole, a small town of the Franche-Comte region, to stay with an aunt and attend the Collège de l'Arc, where he demonstrated more ability in mathematics than in literature. His years at school there were an unpleasant experience he would never look back on fondly.
Despite ongoing issues with his health that had begun when he was a child, Aymé was able to perform his military service, which began in 1919, as part of an artillery unit in the occupied Rhineland. In 1923 he moved to Paris where he worked unsuccessfully at a bank, an insurance company, and as a journalist. Though he failed in his career as a reporter, his stint at the newspaper allowed him to discover his love of writing.
His first published novel was Brûlebois, and in 1929 his La Table aux crevés won the Prix Renaudot. After the great success of his novel La Jument verte, translated into English as The Green Mare, he concentrated mostly on writing and publishing children's stories, novels, and collections of stories. In 1935 he also started writing movie scripts. In theatre, Marcel Aymé found success with his plays Lucienne et le boucher, Clérambard, a farce, and Tête des autres, which criticized the death penalty.
He died in 1967 and was buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.

Work

One of Aymé's most famous short stories is Le passe-muraille or "The Walker-Through-Walls". At the age of 42, Dutilleul suddenly discovers that he has "the remarkable gift of being able to pass through walls with perfect ease". What begins as a novelty that gives him pleasure ends up pushing Dutilleul toward ever more sinister pursuits.

Legacy

Visitors to Paris can see a monument in his honour at Place Marcel-Aymé, in the Montmartre Quarter. The statue is based on his short story "Le passe-muraille".

Novels

  • 1926 Brûlebois
  • 1927 Aller Retour
  • 1928 Les Jumeaux du diable
  • 1929 La Table aux crevés
  • 1930 La Rue sans nom
  • 1931 Le Vaurien
  • 1933 La Jument verte
  • 1935 Maison basse
  • 1936 Le Moulin de la Sourdine
  • 1937 Gustalin
  • 1939 Le Bœuf clandestin
  • 1941 La Belle image
  • 1941 Travelingue
  • 1943 La Vouivre
  • 1946 Le Chemin des écoliers
  • 1948 Uranus
  • 1960 ''Les Tiroirs de l'inconnu''

    Short story collections

French

  • 1932 Le Puits aux images
  • 1934 Le Nain
  • 1934-1946 Les Contes du chat perché
  • 1938 Derrière chez Martin
  • 1943 Le Passe-muraille
  • 1947 Le Vin de Paris
  • 1950 Les Bottes de sept lieues
  • 1950 En arrière
  • 1967 Enjambées
  • 1987 ''La fille du shérif''

    English

  • 1958 Across Paris and Other Stories
  • 1961 The Proverb and Other Stories
  • 1972 The Walker-through-walls and Other Stories
  • 2012 ''The Man Who Walked through Walls''

    Plays

  • 1948 Lucienne et le boucher
  • 1950 Clérambard translated by Norman Denny
  • 1951 Vogue la galère
  • 1952 La tête des autres
  • 1954 Les quatre vérités
  • 1954 Les sorcières de Salem
  • 1955 Les oiseaux de lune
  • 1957 La mouche bleue
  • 1957 Vu du pont
  • 1961 Louisiane
  • 1961 Les Maxibules
  • 1963 La consommation
  • 1963 Le placard
  • 1965 La nuit de l'iguane
  • 1966 La convention Belzébir
  • 1967 ''Le minotaure''

    Screenwriter

  • Crime and Punishment
  • The Green Domino
  • The Mutiny of the Elsinore
  • Portrait of Innocence
  • The Suitors Club
  • Strange Inheritance
  • Papa, maman, la bonne et moi]
  • Papa, maman, ma femme et moi
  • ''Your Money or Your Life''

    Filmography

  • Street Without a Name, directed by Pierre Chenal
  • Mr. Peek-a-Boo, directed by Jean Boyer
  • The Beautiful Image, directed by Claude Heymann
  • ', directed by Henri Verneuil
  • La Traversée de Paris, directed by Claude Autant-Lara
  • Way of Youth, directed by Michel Boisrond
  • The Man Who Walked Through the Wall, directed by Ladislao Vajda
  • The Green Mare, directed by Claude Autant-Lara
  • ', directed by
  • ', directed by Philippe Agostini
  • ', directed by Jacques Pierre
  • Clérambard, directed by Yves Robert
  • Vogue la galère, directed by Raymond Rouleau
  • ', directed by Pierre Tchernia
  • ', directed by Pierre Tchernia
  • ', directed by Georges Wilson
  • Uranus, directed by Claude Berri
  • ', directed by
  • ', directed by Pierre Tchernia
  • The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish, directed by Ben Lewin
  • ', directed by
  • ', directed by
  • ', directed by