JOUHANDEAU, Marcel (Henri) 1888-1979

PERSONAL: Born July 26, 1888, in Gueret, France; died April 7, 1979, in Rueil-Malmaison, France; married June 4, 1929; wife's name Caryathis (a dancer and writer also known as Elise); children: Celine. Education: Attended Lycee Henri IV and University of Paris, Sorbonne.

CAREER: Teacher in Paris, France, 1912-49; writer.

WRITINGS:

La jeunesse de Theophile (novel; title means "Theophile's Youth"), [Paris, France], 1921.

Trois crimes rituals, 1924, reprinted, Éditions rencontre (Lausanne, France), 1962.

Monsieur Godeau intime (novel; title means "Mr. Godeau in His Intimacy"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1926, reprinted, 1963.

Monsieur Godeau marié (novel; title means "Mr. Godeau Married"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1933, reprinted, 1951.

Partraits de famille (title means "Family Portraits"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1951.

Élise architecte: suivi de L'incroyable journéee, Grasset (Paris, France), 1951.

Contes reustiques, L. & J. M. Carteret (France), 1951.

Éloge de la volupté; (title means "In Praise of Voluptuous Pleasure"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1951.

De l'abjection (title means "On Debasement"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1951.

Ces messieurs, Lilac (Paris, France), 1951.

Léonora: ou, Les dangers de la vertu, La Passerelle (Paris, France), 1951.

Les fils du boucher, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1951.

De la grandeur (title means "On Greatness"), Grasset (Paris, France), 1952.

Nouveau bestiare, Grasset (Paris, France), 1952.

La paroisse du temps jadis, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1952.

Notes sur la magie et le vol, Pas Perdus (Paris, France), 1952.

Mémorial, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1952.

Dernieres anness et mort de Veronique, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1953.

Marcel and Élise, Pantheon Books (New York, NY), 1953.

Chaminadour (novel), Gallimard, (Paris, France), revised edition, 1953.

Carnet du professeur, P. Horay (Paris, France), 1953.

Galande: ou, Convalescence au village, Grasset (Paris, France), 1953.

L'école des garcons (title means "School for Boys"), Sautier (Paris, France), 1953.

Apprentis et garçons, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1953.

Le cours Mirabeau: trois siécles d'histoire, Bastidon (Aix-en-Provence, France), 1953.

Confidences, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1954.

Ana de Madame Apremont (novel), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1954.

Algèbre des valeurs morales, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1954.

Éléments pour une éthique, Grasset (Paris, France), 1955.

Contes d'enfer (title means "Tales from Hell"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1955.

Du pur amour (title means "On Pure Love"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1955.

Le langage de la tribu, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1955.

Réflexions dur la viellesse et la mort (title means "Reflections on Old Age and Death"), Grasset (Paris, France), 1956.

Nouvelles images de Paris: suivies de Remarques sur les visages, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1956.

Jaunisse, Chronique, suivie de Elisaeana, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1956.

(Author of preface) La cantique spirtuel: Poemes et maximes, Club Français du Livre (Paris, France) 1956.

(Author of afterword) Jean de la Fonatine, Fables choisies, Club Français du Livre (Paris, France) 1956.

Carnets de l'écrivain (title means "The Writer's Notebooks"), Gallimard (Paris, France), third edition, 1957.

Théâtre sans spectacle: Le meurtre de la duchesse Choiseul-Praslin, Grasset (Paris, France), 1957.

Saint Philippe Neri, Pl&ocarat;n (Paris, France), 1957, translation by George Lamb published as St. Philip Neri, Harper (New York, NY), 1960.

(With André Gide) Correspendance avec André Gide, M. Sautier (Paris, France), 1958.

Réflexions sur la vie et le bonheur (title means "Reflections on Life and Happiness"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1958.

Les chemins de l'adolescence, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1958.

L'imposeur ou Elise iconoclaste, [France], 1958.

(With Jose Cabanis) Jouhandeau, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1959.

Les argonautes, Grasset (Paris, France), 1959.

L'éternel procès (title means "The Eternal Trial"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1959.

Editor) Lettres d'Héloise et d'Abélard: Lettres de la regieuse portugaise, A. Colin (Paris, France), 1959.

(Editor) Lettres de Madame de Sévigné, Club Français du Livre (Paris, France), 1959.

Cocu, pendu et content, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1960.

L'école des filles (title means "School for Girls"), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1960.

Astaroth, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1960.

Le journal du coiffeur (novel), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1960.

Contes de Chamindour: le journal du coiffeur, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1960.

Journaliers (memoirs; includes Journaliers, Les instantanés de la mémoir[00e9], Littérature confidentielle, Que tout n'est qu'allusion, Bon an, mal an 1908-1928, Un second soleil, Jeux de miroirs, Orfevre et sorcier, Une gifte de bonheur, Souffir et etre meprise, and Journal sous l'Occuaption suivi de la courbe de nos Angoisses), 28 volumes Gallimard (Paris, France), 1961-82.

Animaleries, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1961.

Les plus belles letteres de Voltaire, Calmann-Levy (Paris, France), 1961.

(With Georges Braque) Descente aux enfers, Nouveau Cercle Parisien du Livre (Paris, France), 1961.

Chemins et chateaux du Grand Meaulnes, illustrated by Jean Bierre Blanchet, Galerie Jean Giradoux (Paris, France), 1961.

Cróniques maritales: précédée de Élise, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1962.

Théâtre complet, Livre de Poche (Paris, France), 1963.

Descente aux enfers, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1963.

Also author of Les Térébinte, 1926; Ximénès Malinjoude, 1927; Opales, 1928; Le parricide imaginaire, 1930; Le journal du coiffeur (title means "Diary of a Hairdresser"), 1931; L'amateur d'imprudence, 1932; Tite-le-Long, 1932, reprinted, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1954; Veronicana, 1933; Binche-ana, 1933; Chroniques maritales (title means "Chronicles of Married Life," 1935; Le saladier (title means "The Salad Bowl"), 1936; Nouvelle chroniques maritales (title means "New Chronicles of Married Life"), 1943; Petit bestaiare, 1944; Essai sur moi-m&ecarat;me, 1946; Carnets de Don Juan (title means "Don Juan's Diary"), 1947; Animaux familiers (title means "Familiar Animals"), 1947; Menagerie domestique, 1948; Ma classe de sixième, 1949; Une monde, 1950; L'imposteu, 1950; and Un adolescence, 1971.

SIDELIGHTS: In many ways, Marcel Jouhandeau's life was an open book. The son of a butcher and his pious wife, Jouhandeau as a youth felt compelled toward the priesthood, but turned to literature after completing his studies in Paris. In the seven decades after his first book was published, Jouhandeau meticulously chronicled his life story—albeit using fictional alter-egos—allowing readers into his tumultuous personal life. He was credited with publishing some 150 volumes. In the opinion of Frederic Grover, in Encyclopedia of World Literature, Jouhandeau deserves recognition "as one of the greatest writers of fiction in [twentieth-century] French literature. He has managed to create in his novels and stories a universe of his own through the magic of his style, the acuteness of his observation, and a unique vision in which cynical irony is mixed with an almost sacrilegious belief in the absolute value of man."

Appropriately, the three main topics of Jouhandeau's writings were himself, the people he knew, and God. At least three characters—Theophile, Juste Binche, and Mr. Godeau—are based on the author. His first novel, La jeunesse de Theophile, follows the title character in his youth. Theophile must reconcile his religious bent with his desire for women, older women in particular. As a boy Theophile is attracted to Jeanne, a Carmelite nun ten years his senior; at age sixteen the young man engages in an erotic relationship with the more secular, middle-aged Madame Alban. La jeunesse de Theophile was well received, with long excerpts published in the publication Les Annales. Jouhandeau was thus launched as an author though.

The author followed his debut with several novels taking place in the fictional town of Chaminadour, where the action is observed and commented upon by Marcel Godeau, another Jouhandeau alter-ego. In real life, Jouhandeau married his wife Elise in part to deny his homosexuality; the couple adopted their daughter, Celine, and the author acknowledged his sexual orientation subsequently. In his books, Jouhandeau portrays a loving if contentious union between Godeau and his strong-willed wife, coincidentally named Elise. To aTimes Literary Supplement writer, marriage "provided Jouhandeau with an endless subject of inquiry and an apparently inexhaustible source of inspiration. As such it must rank as one of the foremost literary marriages of our time."

Along with his fiction, Jouhandeau was the author of more than two dozen published journals, including Bon an, mal an, 1908-1928. Not only an account of the author's early success, the volume is also valuable, said a Times Literary Supplement contributor, for Jouhandeau's descriptions of his pre-marriage friendships with women. "The strangest case of all was his relationship with 'the Duchess,'" as the critic noted. "She was the widow of Leon Laveine, who was killed in action in 1915 and with whom Jouhandeau had had a passionate, but technically innocent, friendship." In 1925 the author agreed to become the widow's "intimate friend," but only if the relationship "remained chaste," the reviewer continued. Indeed, Jouhandeau "never made any secret of his 'taste for boys,' as he calls it, and did not hesitate to use it as an argument to prevent her from becoming, or trying to become, his mistress."

The Jouhandeau journals continued through the years. Volume 19, Un second soleil, covers several months in 1965. The "second sun" of the title is Marc, born of the author's daughter, Celine. There are problems in this family, however; Celine's husband has abused the boy, and she appears to reject her son and her family's effort to be with him. The author's marriage to Elise, at the same time, is bearing the brunt of a personality clash. "We naturally hear a good deal about [Jouhandeau's] views on religion and sex," according to a Times Literary Supplement writer. The author is also "good at inventing labels for himself. We remember that in the previous volume a crowed of young men's enthusiasm for him made him rejoice in his good health which enabled him to 'walk like a pony.'" By Volume 20, Jeux de miroirs, family relations continue to decline. Celine and her abusive husband have sold their flat and disappeared, leaving Marc in his grandparents' care. Elise's behavior also makes the pages of this volume: as a Times Literary Supplement reviewer related, she stops a luncheon party by boasting of her premarital affairs, "shocks her guests by spitting in her husband's face and declares that her marriage to him is the only error in her life." To which one guest, a priest, adds: "A happy error, dear Lady, because we have to admit that without Jouhandeau, we should not be gathered round this table."

Even in his eighties the author continued to publish his multi-part journals. Volume 23, Souffier et etre meprise, was released in 1977. The relationship between the author and his wife are at a low ebb ("I have known plenty of imbeciles," he quotes her, "but of all of them you are the stupidest.") The family dynamic changes when into the Jouhandeau's household comes Marc, the six-year-old son of the author's daughter, Celine. The child has been left in the elderly couple's care after the breakup of Celine's abusive marriage. Though Elise keeps an emotionally neutral distance from the child—never treating Marc in a kind, "grandmotherly" way—Marcel finds the boy an inspiration. "Every child," Jouhandeau writes, "is for me a Messiah; Marc is a messiah whom I must bring up and who is my salvation." As for Jouhandeau's sexual habits, by his eighties he has largely abandoned his affairs with men, declaring that by a "sort of physiological miracle I have been delivered from my sensuality."

In Volume 24, Une gifte de bonheur, the Jouhandeaus are preparing to formally adopt Marc, even though "relations between husband and wife are as bad as ever," reported a Times Literary Supplement writer. Marcel says, "Elise is her own hell, mine and Marc's as well." Yet "he has to admit that 'it is the sin of homosexuality which encumbers me in her eyes and justifies her,'" as the Times Literary Supplement critic added. Religion is another sticking point in the marriage: in his dotage Jouhandeau feels the need to return to his faith, but guilt over his sexual orientation keeps him from attending Easter services with Elise and Marc. But even age has not stilled the author's biting wit, the reviewer suggested. "The last amusing reflection about himself turns up a few pages before: 'Why at the age of eighty-three does God leave me as agile on land as a trout is in water?'"

The final chapter of Jouhandeau's journals, Volume 28, was published in 1982. "Apparently realizing this to be his last work," noted Judith Greenberg in World Literature Today, Jouhandeau used Volume 28 to "settle old scores, balance accounts, make his peace and/or pick his last quarrel with the living, the dead and the Eternal." Elise has died by this time, and Marc has grown into what called an "incredibly well-adjusted and thoughtful" young man despite the tumultuous details of his early life. As for the author, he has grown as well—and become, the critic concluded, "in all senses of the word, sage."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times Literary Supplement, November 4, 1955; January 11, 1957; April 8, 1960; May 28, 1964; January 25, 1968; August 13, 1971; June 8, 1973, review of Bon an, mal an 1908-1928, p. 647; February 22, 1974, review of Un second soleil, p. 190; October 11, 1974, review of Jeux de miroirs, p. 1134; March 28, 1975, review of Orfevre et sorcier, p. 344; April 2, 1976, review of Parousie, p. 370; May 6, 1977, review of Une gifte de bonheur, p. 550; February 18, 1977, review of Souffir et etre meprise, p. 172; December 5, 1980, review of Journal sous l'occuaption suivi de la courbe de nos Angoisses, p. 1375.

World Literature Today, winter, 1982, Judith Greenberg, review of Journal sous l'occuaption suivi de la courbe de nos Angoisses, p. 74; summer, 1982, Judith Greenberg, review of Du singulier a l'eternel: Journaliers XXVII, p. 483; autumn, 1983, Judith Greenberg, review of Journaliers, Volume 28, pp. 606-607.*