Izoard, Jacques 1936–

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Izoard, Jacques 1936–

PERSONAL: Born 1936, in Liége, Belgium.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Éditions de La Difference, 30 Rue Ramponeau, Paris 75020, France.

AWARDS, HONORS: Prix Mallarmé, 1978, for Vêtu, dévetu, libre.

WRITINGS:

Les sources de feu brûlent le feu contraire (poems), Societe des Ecrivains (Brussels, Belgium), 1964.

Aveuglément (poems), H. Fagne (Brussels, Belgium), 1967.

Un chemin de sel pur (poems), G. Chambelland (Paris, France), 1969.

Des laitiers, des scélérats (poems), Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Pres (Paris, France), 1971.

Voix vêtements saccages, B. Grassett (Paris, France), 1971.

Six poèmes, [Liége, Belgium], 1972.

La patrie empaillée (poems; also see below), B. Grasset (Paris, France), 1973.

(Editor) Oodradek, [Liége, Belgium], 1973.

(With Eugène Savitzkaya) Rue obscure (prose poems), Atelier de l'Agneau (Liége, Belgium), 1975.

La chamber d'iris, Fond de la Ville (Belgium), 1976.

Andrée Chedid, Seghers (Paris, France), 1977.

Vêtu, dévêtu, libre (poems; also see below), P. Belfond (Paris, France), 1978.

(With Bertrand Bracaval) Voyage sous la peau, Prenian (France), 1983.

Corps, maisons, tumultes (poems and prose), P. Belfond (Paris, France), 1990.

La patrie empaillée: Vêtu, dévêtu, libre, Labor (Brussels, Belgium), 1992.

(With Eugéne Savitzkaya) Ketelslegers, Labor (Brussels, Belgium), 1997.

Le bleu et la poussière: poèmes, Éditions de la Différence (Paris, France), 1998.

Bègue, bogue, borgne, Atelier de l'Agneau (Liége, Belgium), 1999.

Pièges d'air, illustrations by Selçuk Mutlu, Fram (Liége, Belgium), 2000.

Dormir sept ans (poems), illustrations by Selçuk Mutlu, Éditions de la Différence (Paris, France), 2001.

Les girafes du sud, illustrations by Selçuk Mutlu, Éditions de la Différence (Paris, France), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Belgian poet and author Jacques Izoard began publishing his work in the early 1960s with Les sources de feu brûlent le feu contraire. Since that time, Izoard has been recognized as a leading literary voice in his native land. In 1979 he was awarded the prestigious Prix Mallarmé for Vêtu, dévêtu, libre. Although he was most prolific in the 1970s and early 1980s, Izoard continued to publish into the 1990s and beyond, beginning that decade with a collection of poems, prose poems, and aphorisms titled Corps, maisons, tumultes. That volume earned the praise of critics and prompted Mechthild Cranston to call Izoard a "visual poet" in World Literature Today.

Izoard was born in the Belgian city of Liége, and the majority of the pieces in Corps, maisons, tumultes are set there. Most of the book's other poems and aphorisms are set elsewhere in Belgium, in the Walloon countryside, along the banks of the Meuse River or in the Ardennes region. Rather than portray Belgium as a rainy and dreary country, which is the way many foreigners perceive it, Izoard instead creates colorful scenes of green grasses, blooming poppies, and sunshine. Cranston commented on Izoard's optimistic book, saying that "he delights in the … tactile, muscular universe of palpable energy, where elves and dwarfs and fairies and dolls and puppets and flying kites move with ease." Izoard's other important works include Voix vêtements saccages and Des laitiers, des scélérats.