Gisèle Prassinos facts for kids

Gisèle Prassinos (born February 26, 1920 – died November 15, 2015) was a French writer. She was known for her unique style, often linked to the surrealist art movement.

Early Life and Discoveries

Gisèle Prassinos was born in Istanbul, Turkey. When she was two years old, her family moved to France. They first lived in a town called Nanterre.

At just 14, Gisèle started writing in a special way. This was called "automatic writing." It meant writing down thoughts as they came, without planning. She met famous surrealist artists through her brother, Mario Prassinos. They were amazed by her writing. Leaders like André Breton and Paul Éluard saw her as a "woman-child" with amazing poetry. They felt her texts showed true automatic writing.

Writing Career

Her writing was first noticed by André Breton in 1934. She was only 14 at the time. Her work was published in important magazines. These included Minotaure and Documents 34.

Her first book, La Sauterelle arthritique (The Arthritic Grasshopper), came out in 1935. It had a special introduction by Paul Éluard. A photo by Man Ray showed her reading her poems. In 1940, André Breton included some of her texts in his book Anthologie de l'humour noir. Gisèle also started creating art. She illustrated La chasse au snark by Lewis Carroll in 1946.

She then began writing longer stories. Her novel Le rêve (1947) was about childhood. It explored how the past and present connect.

During World War II, she stopped publishing for a while. After the war, she continued to write many books. She also worked in kindergartens. With her husband, Pierre Fridas, she translated books by Níkos Kazantzákis. These included La liberté ou la mort (1953) and Alexis Zorba (1958).

Later, she wrote more poems and novels. Her books were often hard to put into one category. Le temps n'est rien (1958) was a story about her own life. It again looked at the past and present. Le visage effleuré de peine (1964) was another notable work. She also wrote short stories. Brelin le frou, ou le portrait de famille (1975) was a collection of tales. These stories featured characters living by strange, fantastic rules. Gisèle herself illustrated this book. Her drawings were like funny cartoons. They often showed characters with unique hats. She also made drawings and tapestries. These were artworks made from colored cloth.

After this, she mainly wrote fantasy novels. One example is La table de famille (1993). She also published poetry, like La fièvre du labour (1989). Some of her earlier works were reprinted later. These included Le visage effleuré de peine (2000) and Mon cœur les écoute (2009).

Her Legacy

Gisèle Prassinos left many of her original manuscripts to the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris. This is a special library in Paris. Her art pieces were given to her niece, Catherine Prassinos.