Julien Green and the Art of Biographical Writing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/pytlit2014.89.137Keywords:
Twentieth-Century French Literature, Julien Green, Biography, Biographical Essay, Saint Francis of AssisiAbstract
Contemporary critics agree that biographical writing belongs as much to the domain of Literature as it does to History. Mauriac saw parallels between biographical writing and the novel form. Daniel Madelénat also emphasises the literary dimension of biography. Writing a biography is also seen as a form of catharsis for the writer as he faces his own deep preoccupations. Critics agree that a biography tells us as much about the writer as it does about the subject.Chateaubriand stated that the biographer is analysing his own soul while attributing it to another person. Jean Lacouture states that in a biography we are dealing with a portrait of the model and not of the artist. Madeleine Lazard adds that, in a biography, the subject is a reflection of the temperament of the writer. In our study of Julien Green’s biography of Saint Francis of Assisi and of his biographical essay on Hawthorne, we will see that the author reveals the principal preoccupations which form the basis of his fictional world. We will see that, for Green, biographical writing is a mirror and that the author presents us with a literary transformation of the image which he finds in the mirror.
References
Aron R. Introduction à la philosophie de l’histoire. Paris, 1948, 353 p.
Crowley D. J. Hawthorne : The Critical Heritage. London, 1970, 532 p.
Green J. Adrienne Mesurat. Paris, 1927, 355 p.
Green J. Chaque homme dans sa nuit. Paris, 1960, 404 p.
Green J. Dixie. Paris, 1995, 378 p.
Green J. Epaves. Paris, 1932, 286 p.
Green J. Frère François. Paris, 1983, 340 p.
Green J. L’Autre. Paris, 1971, 471 p.
Green J. L’autre Sommeil. Paris, 1931, 169 p.
Green J. Le Visionnaire. Paris, 1934, 274 p.
Green J. Les Etoiles du Sud. Paris, 1989, 748 p.
Green J. Les Pays lointains. Paris, 1987, 890 p.
Green J. Léviathan. Paris, 1929, 345 p.
Green J. Minuit. Paris, 1936, 313 p.
Green J. Moïra. Paris, 1950, 251 p.
Green J. Mont-Cinère. Paris, 1926, 301 p.
Green J. Œuvres complètes. Paris, 1972, vol. 1, 1264 p.
Green J. Pamphlet contre les catholiques de France. Paris, 1924, 50 p.
Green J. Partir avant le jour. Paris,1963, 339 p.
Green J. Si j’étais vous. Paris, 1947, 264 p.
Green J. Un Puritain homme de lettres: Nathaniel Hawthorne. Paris, 1928, 50 p.
Hawthorne N. Letters. Columbus, 1984–1987, vols. 1–4.
Lazard M. La Biographie (Introduction). Cahiers de l’Association Internationale des études françaises, 2000, no. 52, pp. 139–142.
Madelénat D. La Biographie. Paris, 1984, 222 p.
Mauriac Fr. Cinquante Ans. NRF, Octobre 1939, pp. 535–551.
Maurois A. Aspects de la biographie. Paris, 1928, 178 p.
Murray J. L’Influence de Nathaniel Hawthorne sur les nouvelles de Juien Green. Thèse. Maynooth, 2000.
Oliver A. Le Biographique. Paris, 2001, 159 p.
Sirinelli J. Plutarque Biographe. Cahiers de l’Association Internationale des études françaises, 2000, no. 52, pp. 143–152.
Tadié J.-Y. La Critique littéraire au XXe siècle. Paris, 1987, 317 p.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 Michael O’Dwyer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
