Jean-Claude Brisville facts for kids

Jean-Claude Brisville (born May 28, 1922 – died August 11, 2014) was a French writer. He wrote many different types of stories. He was a playwright, meaning he wrote plays for the theater. He also wrote novels and even books for children.

Jean-Claude Brisville also worked as a screenwriter for movies. One famous film he helped write was Beaumarchais, l'insolent. In 1989, he received a very important award. It was called the Grand Prix du théâtre from the Académie française. This award honored all the great work he had done in his career.

He became widely known in 1989 because of his play Le Souper [fr]. This play was set in 1815. It showed two important historical figures, Joseph Fouché and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, meeting for an evening. They talked about how to bring back a king to France after it had been invaded. The play became even more famous when it was made into a movie in 1992. In the film, Claude Brasseur played Fouché and Claude Rich played Talleyrand. This movie helped many people discover Jean-Claude Brisville's talent.

About Jean-Claude Brisville's Life

Jean-Claude Brisville grew up in Asnières. His father was an industrialist. As a teenager, Jean-Claude loved reading novels by José Moselli [fr]. After France was freed from war, he started his career as a journalist who wrote about books.

He was a respected poet, playwright, and essayist. He worked for the Hachette publishing company. Later, he became a reader for Éditions Julliard, helping to decide which books to publish. In 1957, he wrote the first detailed study about the famous writer Albert Camus. Camus then asked Brisville to be his secretary until 1959. Because he had family to support, Brisville decided to focus on being a publisher instead of just a playwright.

In 1964, he became a literary director. He helped introduce the German writer Ernst Jünger to French readers. He published a new edition of Jünger's "Journal de guerre" (War Diary). This happened thanks to the efforts of Christian Bourgois [fr].

In 1970, he became good friends with another writer, Julien Gracq. Brisville wrote an adaptation of Gracq's book Beau Ténébreux for television. Jean-Christophe Averty directed this TV production.

In 1976, Jean-Claude Brisville became the director of Le Livre de Poche. This is a well-known French paperback book collection. In 1981, when he was sixty years old, he was let go from this job. This event made him start writing again. He wrote a play called Le Fauteuil à bascule (The Rocking Chair). This play was a funny but critical look at the publishing world. It showed a conflict between an editor and a greedy boss.

The play was very successful at the Petit Odéon and the Théâtre de l'Est parisien [fr]. After some other plays didn't do as well, he went back to his successful style. This style involved two characters talking, each representing a different idea. For example:

• Descartes and Blaise Pascal discussed reason versus faith.
• The marquise du Deffand and Julie de Lespinasse talked about old ideas versus new ones.
• Talleyrand and Fouché debated political skill versus ambition.
• Napoléon and Hudson Lowe discussed a grand destiny versus everyday smallness.

In his play L'Antichambre, he shared his sadness about the French language. He felt it was slowly changing and perhaps disappearing.

In 1984, he became close to René Char, another writer who was a friend of Albert Camus. Starting in 1997, Brisville began a project he called "anamnesis." This meant looking back at his past to understand himself better. He published these thoughts as short pieces of memories. These memories were less about him personally and more about the times he lived through. They were mixed with aphorisms, which are short, clever sayings, often with a bit of sad humor.

Jean-Claude Brisville received two important French honors: he was a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Jean-Claude Brisville's Works

Jean-Claude Brisville wrote many different kinds of works throughout his life.

Plays for the Theater

• 1946: Les Emmurés (The Imprisoned), a three-act play.
• 1955: Saint-Just
• 1972: Le Rôdeur - Nora - Le Récital, three short plays.
• 1982: Le Fauteuil à bascule (The Rocking Chair)
• 1983: Le Bonheur à Romorantin (Happiness in Romorantin)
• 1985: L'Entretien de M. Descartes avec M. Pascal le jeune (The Conversation of Mr. Descartes with Young Mr. Pascal)
• 1986: La Villa bleue (The Blue Villa)
• 1989: Le Souper (The Supper)
• 1991: L'Antichambre (The Antechamber)
• 1993: Contre-jour (Backlight)
• 1995: La Dernière Salve (The Last Salvo)
• 2007: Sept comédies en quête d'acteurs (Seven Comedies in Search of Actors)

Essays and Memoirs

• 1948: Prologue
• 1954: La Présence réelle (The Real Presence)
• 1959: Camus, a study about Albert Camus.
• 1998: De mémoire (From Memory) – These are his memoirs, or personal recollections.
• 2006: Quartiers d'hiver (Winter Quarters) – More memoirs.
• 2009: Rien n'est jamais fini (Nothing Is Ever Finished) – His final memoirs.

Novels

• 1954: D'un amour (Of a Love) – This book won the Prix Sainte-Beuve award.
• 1962: La Fuite au Danemark (The Flight to Denmark)
• 1972: La Petite Marie (Little Marie) – Published under the pen name Sylvain Saulnier.
• 1976: La zone d'ombre (The Shadow Zone)
• 1982: La Révélation d'une voix et d'un nom (The Revelation of a Voice and a Name)
• 2002: Vive Henri IV (Long Live Henri IV)

Tales for Children

• 1975: Les Trèfle de Longue-Oreille. Première aventure : Petit Trèfle en péril (Long-Ear Clover. First Adventure: Little Clover in Danger)
• 1975: Les Trèfle de Longue-Oreille. Deuxième aventure : Lançons le cerf-volant (Long-Ear Clover. Second Adventure: Let's Fly the Kite)
• 1975: Les Trèfle de Longue-Oreille. Troisième aventure : Et hop dans le chapeau (Long-Ear Clover. Third Adventure: And Hop into the Hat)
• 1973: Un hiver dans la vie de Gros-Ours (A Winter in the Life of Big Bear)
• 1977: L'Enfant qui voulait voir la mer (The Child Who Wanted to See the Sea) – This book won an award for being one of the 50 most beautiful books of 1977.
• 1978: Oleg, le léopard des neiges (Oleg, the Snow Leopard)
• 1981: Le Ciel inévitable (The Inevitable Sky)
• 1981: Oleg retrouve son royaume (Oleg Finds His Kingdom Again)

Screenwriter for Films and TV

• 1970: La nuit se lève (The Night Rises) for TV.
• 1984: Le Bonheur à Romorantin for TV.
• 1992: The Supper (film).
• 1996: Beaumarchais, l'insolent (film).

See also

In Spanish: Jean-Claude Brisville para niños