Jean Cassou
Encyclopedia
Jean Cassou was a French writer, art critic, poet and member of the French Resistance
during World War II
.
, near Bilbao
, (Spain). His father was French (with a Mexican mother) and his mother Milagros Ibañez Pacheco was from Andalucia (Spain).
His father, who had the prestigious degree Ingénieur des Arts et Manufactures, died when Jean was only sixteen. His mother gave Jean and his sister basic Spanish culture, and he learnt French and Spanish classics side by side at school. Jean did secondary studies at the Lycée Charlemagne
while providing for the needs of his family, then began study for the Licence d'espagnol (Spanish) degree at the Faculty of Letters in Paris. This he followed in 1917 and 1918 by getting a Masters degree at the Bayonne Lycée and, though interrupted many times, was not mobilised in World War I
. He was Secretary to Pierre Louÿs
, writing from 1921 to 1929 his monthly chronicle "Spanish Letters" in the cultural magazine Le Mercure de France
(of which he was editor). He became in 1923 the writer for the Ministry of State Education and in 1926 published his first novel.
In 1932 Jean Cassou became an inspector of historic monuments. In 1934 he became a member of the Vigilance Committee of anti-fascist intellectuals and director from 1936 of the review Europe. In 1936 he was a member of the cabinet of Jean Zay
, Minister of State Education and of the Art-schools of the Popular front
. He was then in favour of the Spanish Republic and socialism, and approached the communist party – but broke with then in 1939 at the time of the Germano-Soviet pact. On the approach of the German army, he went to the castle at Compiègne
and devoted himself to the safeguard of the national heritage.
Relieved of his post as conservator at the Museum of Modern Art by the Vichy régime, he joined the Resistance in September 1940, writing its first leaflets. Among his friends who shared his views were Claude Aveline
and Agnès Humbert
and they founded the clandestine group the Groupe du musée de l'Homme
, together with Boris Vildé
, Anatole Lewitsky
and Paul Rivet
. With Claude Aveline, Agnès Humbert, Simone Martin-Chauffier and Marcel Abraham, he drafted the group's periodical called Résistance (six numbers between December 1940 and March 1941). When many members of the group were arrested, he escaped the Gestapo
and took refuge at Toulouse
. He was agent of the "Bertaux group" in August 1941, was arrested in December for his activities at the Musée de l'Homme and sentenced to a year in a Vichy prison where he composed in his head, there being no possibility of writing anything down, his Thirty-three sonnets composed in secret, which were published in 1944 under the pseudonym of Jean Noir.
Freed after a year in prison, he was sent by the ST
to an internment camp at Saint-Sulpice
(Tarn). After a month, following a plea from the Resistance to the director of ST, he was released in June 1943 and continued his active work for the Resistance using the pseudonyms "Alain" and Fournier". He became inspector of the southern zone. The provisional government of the French Republic in Algeria
named him in June 1944 as Commissioner of the Republic for the Toulouse Region. In August, at the time of the liberation of the town, his car met an armed German patrol: two of his companions were killed and he was left for dead. He spent three weeks in a coma. General Charles de Gaulle
came to his bedside to present him with the Croix de la Libération. Though his job was replaced he kept the title, but resigned after convalescing for a year.
In 1945 Jean Cassou regained his post as Chief of Conservation at the national museums, a post he kept until 1965. In 1971 he received the Grand Prix national des Lettres and in 1983 the grand Prix de la Société des Gens de Lettres for the whole of his work. He died on 18 January 1986 and is buried in the cemetery at Thiais
in Paris. He was a militant activist for the Peace Movement and brother-in-law of the philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch
. A bronze bust by Madeleine de Tézenas is in the Place de la Résistance in Toulouse.
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Biography
Jean Cassou was born at DeustoDeusto
Deusto or Deustu is a district of the city of Bilbao, in the Spanish Basque Country on the right bank of the Estuary of Bilbao. It includes the neighbourhoods of San Inazio, Zorrotzaurre, Ibarrekolanda, Elorrieta, Arangoiti and Deusto proper, with a total population of over 52,000. It used to be a...
, near Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, (Spain). His father was French (with a Mexican mother) and his mother Milagros Ibañez Pacheco was from Andalucia (Spain).
His father, who had the prestigious degree Ingénieur des Arts et Manufactures, died when Jean was only sixteen. His mother gave Jean and his sister basic Spanish culture, and he learnt French and Spanish classics side by side at school. Jean did secondary studies at the Lycée Charlemagne
Lycée Charlemagne
The Lycée Charlemagne is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France.Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Jesuits...
while providing for the needs of his family, then began study for the Licence d'espagnol (Spanish) degree at the Faculty of Letters in Paris. This he followed in 1917 and 1918 by getting a Masters degree at the Bayonne Lycée and, though interrupted many times, was not mobilised in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He was Secretary to Pierre Louÿs
Pierre Louÿs
Pierre Louÿs was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who "expressed pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection."-Life:...
, writing from 1921 to 1929 his monthly chronicle "Spanish Letters" in the cultural magazine Le Mercure de France
Mercure de France
The Mercure de France was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group....
(of which he was editor). He became in 1923 the writer for the Ministry of State Education and in 1926 published his first novel.
In 1932 Jean Cassou became an inspector of historic monuments. In 1934 he became a member of the Vigilance Committee of anti-fascist intellectuals and director from 1936 of the review Europe. In 1936 he was a member of the cabinet of Jean Zay
Jean Zay
Jean Zay is a French politician born in Orléans on 6 August 1904 and assassinated 20 June 1944 by the miliciens in Molles . He was the Minister of National Education and Fine Arts from 1936 until 1939....
, Minister of State Education and of the Art-schools of the Popular front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
. He was then in favour of the Spanish Republic and socialism, and approached the communist party – but broke with then in 1939 at the time of the Germano-Soviet pact. On the approach of the German army, he went to the castle at Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
and devoted himself to the safeguard of the national heritage.
Relieved of his post as conservator at the Museum of Modern Art by the Vichy régime, he joined the Resistance in September 1940, writing its first leaflets. Among his friends who shared his views were Claude Aveline
Claude Aveline
Claude Aveline, pen name of Evgen Avtsine , was a writer, publisher, editor, poet and member of the French Resistance. Aveline, who was born in Paris, France, has authored numerous books and writings throughout his writing career...
and Agnès Humbert
Agnès Humbert
Agnès Humbert was an art historian, ethnographer and a member of the French Resistance during World War II.- Early life :...
and they founded the clandestine group the Groupe du musée de l'Homme
Groupe du musée de l'Homme
The Groupe du musée de l'Homme was a movement in the French resistance to the Nazi occupation during the Second World War....
, together with Boris Vildé
Boris Vildé
Boris Vildé was a linguist and ethnographer at the Musée de l'Homme, in Paris, France. He specialised in polar civilizations. He was born in St. Petersburg into a family of Eastern orthodox Russians. His family moved to Tartu, Estonia in 1919...
, Anatole Lewitsky
Anatole Lewitsky
Anatole Lewitsky was a French anthropologist and member of the French Resistance in World War II. He was head of the European-Asiatic department at the Musée de l'Homme, and a world authority on Siberian shamanism....
and Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet was a French ethnologist, who founded the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. He was also one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the February 6, 1934 far right riots.Rivet proposed a theory according to...
. With Claude Aveline, Agnès Humbert, Simone Martin-Chauffier and Marcel Abraham, he drafted the group's periodical called Résistance (six numbers between December 1940 and March 1941). When many members of the group were arrested, he escaped the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and took refuge at Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. He was agent of the "Bertaux group" in August 1941, was arrested in December for his activities at the Musée de l'Homme and sentenced to a year in a Vichy prison where he composed in his head, there being no possibility of writing anything down, his Thirty-three sonnets composed in secret, which were published in 1944 under the pseudonym of Jean Noir.
Freed after a year in prison, he was sent by the ST
ST
ST or St may refer to:In geography:* São Tomé and Príncipe, ISO 3166-1 country codeIn technology:* .st, Internet country code top-level domain for São Tomé and Príncipe* ST connector, a type of optical fiber connector...
to an internment camp at Saint-Sulpice
Saint-Sulpice, Tarn
Saint-Sulpice is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.-References:*...
(Tarn). After a month, following a plea from the Resistance to the director of ST, he was released in June 1943 and continued his active work for the Resistance using the pseudonyms "Alain" and Fournier". He became inspector of the southern zone. The provisional government of the French Republic in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
named him in June 1944 as Commissioner of the Republic for the Toulouse Region. In August, at the time of the liberation of the town, his car met an armed German patrol: two of his companions were killed and he was left for dead. He spent three weeks in a coma. General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
came to his bedside to present him with the Croix de la Libération. Though his job was replaced he kept the title, but resigned after convalescing for a year.
In 1945 Jean Cassou regained his post as Chief of Conservation at the national museums, a post he kept until 1965. In 1971 he received the Grand Prix national des Lettres and in 1983 the grand Prix de la Société des Gens de Lettres for the whole of his work. He died on 18 January 1986 and is buried in the cemetery at Thiais
Thiais
Thiais is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin Theodasium or Theodaxium, meaning "estate of Theodasius", a Gallo-Roman landowner....
in Paris. He was a militant activist for the Peace Movement and brother-in-law of the philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch
Vladimir Jankélévitch
Vladimir Jankélévitch was a French philosopher and musicologist.- Biography :Jankélévitch was the son of Russian Jewish parents, who had emigrated to France....
. A bronze bust by Madeleine de Tézenas is in the Place de la Résistance in Toulouse.
Novels
- Éloge de la Folie, 1925
- Les harmonies viennoises, Paris, Émile Paul, 1926
- Les inconnus dans la cave, Paris, Gallimard, 1933
- Les massacres de Paris, Paris, Gallimard, 1935
- La clef des songes, 1928
- Comme une grande image, Editions Emile-Paul frères, 1931
- Le centre du monde, Paris, Le Sagittaire, 1945
- Dernières pensées d'un amoureux, Paris, Albin Michel, 1962
- Le voisinage des cavernes, Paris, Albin Michel, 1971
Essays
- Les nuits de Musset, Paris, Émile Paul, 1931
- Grandeur et infamie de Tolstoï, Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1932
- Pour la poésie, Paris, Corréa, 1935
- Quarante-huit, Paris, Gallimard, 1939
- La mémoire courte, Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1954; repub. Mille et une Nuits, 2001
- Parti pris, Paris, Albin Michel, 1961
- La création des mondes, Paris, Éditions Ouvrières, 1971
- Une vie pour la liberté, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1981
Art criticism
- Situation de l'Art Moderne, Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1950
- Panorama des Arts Plastiques contemporains, Paris, Gallimard, 1960
- Jan Le Witt, by Sir Herbert Read and Jean Cassou, 1971
Poetry
- Trente-trois sonnets composés au secret, Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1944; repub. Poésie/Gallimard, 1995
- La rose et le vin
- La folie d'Amadis
Other
- La vie de Philippe II. Paris. Gallimard. 1929. 12. Ed. (Orig. 1927. Vies des hommes, illustrated. No. 29 )
- Panorama de la littérature espagnole contemporaine, Paris, Kra, 1929 (later edition 1931)
- Tempête sur l'Espagne, Paris, L'Homme réel, 1936
- La querelle du réalisme, Paris, ESI, 1936
- Cervantes, Paris, ESI, 1936
- Légion, Paris, Gallimard, 1939
- L'heure du choix (collection), Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1947
- Le quarante-huitard, Paris, PUF, 1948
- La voie libre, Paris, Flammarion, 1951
Translations and adaptations by Cassou
- L'Agonie du Christianisme, translated from an essay by Miguel de Unamuno, Paris, F. Rieder, 1925
- Font au Cabres, dramatic fresco in three acts by Lope de Vega, Paris, Les Ordres de Chevalerie, 1949, with Jean Camp, lithographs by Carlos Fontsere
Translations of Cassou into English
- 33 Sonnets of the Resistance and other poems, Timothy Adès, Arc Publications, UK 2002
- The Madness of Amadis and other poems, Timothy Adès, Agenda Editions, UK 2009