Mercure de France
Encyclopedia
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.
The gazette was published from 1672 to 1724 (with an interruption in 1674-1677) under the title Mercure galant (sometimes spelled Mercure gallant) (1672–1674) and Nouveau Mercure galant (1677–1724). The title was changed to Mercure de France in 1724. The gazette was briefly suppressed from 1811 to 1815 and ceased publication in 1825. The name was revived in 1890 for both a literary review and (in 1894) a publishing house initially linked with the symbolist
movement. Since 1995 Mercure de France has been part of the Éditions Gallimard
publishing group.
Mercure de France should not be confused with another literary magazine, the Mercure du XIXe siècle
(1823–1830).
in 1672. The name refers to the god Mercury
, the messenger of the gods; the title also echos the Mercure françoys which was France's first literary gazette, founded in 1611 by the Paris bookseller J. Richer. The magazine's goal was to inform elegant society about life in the court and intellectual/artistic debates; the gazette (which appeared irregularly) featured poems, anecdotes, news (marriages, gossip), theatre and art reviews, songs, and fashion reviews, and it became fashionable (and sometimes scandalous) to be mentioned in its pages. Publication stopped in 1674, but began again as a monthly with the name Nouveau Mercure galant in 1677.
The Mercure galant was a significant development in the history of journalism (it was the first gazette to report on the fashion world (DeJean, 47)) and played a pivotal role in the dissemination of news about fashion, luxury goods, etiquette and court life under Louis XIV
to the provinces and abroad. In the 1670s, articles on the new season's fashions were also accompanied with engravings (DeJean, 63; see this work for an extensive analysis of the Mercure galant's mediatization of styles and fashion).
The gazette was frequently denigrated by authors of the period. The name Mercure galant was used by the playwright Edmé Boursault
for one of his plays critical of social pretensions; when Donneau de Visé complained, Boursault retitled his play Comédie sans titre (Play without a title).
The gazette played an important role in the "Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns
", a debate on whether the arts and literature of the 17th century had achieved more than the illustrious writers and artists of antiquity, which would last until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
and the Mercure galant joined the "Moderns". Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
was pushed into the role of champion of the "Anciens", and Jean Racine
, Jean de La Fontaine
and Jean de La Bruyère
(who is famous for a jibe against the gazette: "le Mercure... est immédiatement au dessous de rien" ["the Mercure... is immediately below nothing"]) took his defense.
The periodical eventually became a financial success and it brought Donneau de Visé comfortable revenues. The Mercure de France became the uncontested arbiter of French arts and humanities, and it has been called the most important literary journal in prerevolutionary France.
Thomas Corneille
was a frequent contributor to the gazette. The Mercure continued to be published after Donneau de Visé's death in 1710. In 1724 its title was changed to Mercure de France and it developed a semi-official character with a governmentally-appointed editor (profits were invested into pensions for writers). Jean-François de la Harpe
was the editor in chief for 20 years; he also collaborated with Jacques Mallet du Pan
. Other significant editors and contributors include: Marmontel
, Raynal, Chamfort and Voltaire
.
Right before the revolution, management was handed over to Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
. During the revolutionary era, the title was changed briefly to Le Mercure français. Napoleon stopped its publication in 1811, but the review was resurrected in 1815. The review was last published in 1825.
. Vallette was closely linked to a group of writers associated with Symbolism
who regularly met at the café la Mère Clarisse in Paris
(rue Jacob), and which included: Jean Moréas
, Émile Raynaud, Pierre Arène, Remy de Gourmont
, Alfred Jarry
, Albert Samain
and Charles Cros
. The first edition of the review appeared on January 1, 1890.
Over the next decade, the review achieved critical success, and poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé
and José-Maria de Heredia published original works in it. The review became bimonthly in 1905.
In 1889, Alfred Vallette married the novelist Rachilde
whose novel Monsieur Vénus was condemned on moral grounds. Rachilde was a member of the editorial committee of the review until 1924 and her personality and works did much to publicize the review. Rachilde held a salon
on Tuesdays, and these "mardis du Mercure" would become famous for the authors who attended.
Like other reviews of the period, the Mercure also began to publish books (beginning in 1894). Along with works by symbolists, the Mercure brought out the first French translations of Friedrich Nietzsche
, the first works of André Gide
, Paul Claudel
, Colette
and Guillaume Apollinaire
and the poems of Tristan Klingsor
. Later publications include works by: Henri Michaux
, Pierre Reverdy
, Pierre-Jean Jouve, Louis-René des Forêts, Pierre Klossowski
, André du Bouchet
, Georges Séféris, Eugène Ionesco
and Yves Bonnefoy
.
With the death of Vallette in 1935, the management was taken over by Georges Duhamel
(who had been editing the review since 1912). In 1938, because of Duhamel's anti-war stance, he was replaced by Jacques Bernard
(in 1945, Bernard would be arrested and condemned for collaboration with the Germans). After the war, Duhamel (who was majority stock-holder of the publishing house) appointed Paul Hartman
to run the review (Hartman had participated in the resistance and clandestine publishing during the war).
In 1958, the Éditions Gallimard
publishing group bought the Mercure de France and Simone Gallimard was chosen as its director. In 1995, Isabelle Gallimard took over direction of the publishing house.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
gazette and literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard is one of the leading French publishers of books. The Guardian has described it as having "the best backlist in the world". In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1418 titles....
publishing group.
The gazette was published from 1672 to 1724 (with an interruption in 1674-1677) under the title Mercure galant (sometimes spelled Mercure gallant) (1672–1674) and Nouveau Mercure galant (1677–1724). The title was changed to Mercure de France in 1724. The gazette was briefly suppressed from 1811 to 1815 and ceased publication in 1825. The name was revived in 1890 for both a literary review and (in 1894) a publishing house initially linked with the symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
movement. Since 1995 Mercure de France has been part of the Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard is one of the leading French publishers of books. The Guardian has described it as having "the best backlist in the world". In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1418 titles....
publishing group.
Mercure de France should not be confused with another literary magazine, the Mercure du XIXe siècle
Mercure du XIXe siècle
The Mercure du XIXe siècle was a French literary magazine published from 1823 to 1830. It was edited by Henri de Latouche and was famous for the first published use of the word "realism" applied to literature...
(1823–1830).
The original Mercure galant and Mercure de France
The Mercure galant was founded by the writer Jean Donneau de ViséJean Donneau de Visé
Jean Donneau de Visé was a French journalist, royal historian , playwright and publicist. He was founder of the literary, arts and society gazette "le Mercure galant" and was associated with the "Moderns" in the "Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns".Donneau de Visé was among the detractors...
in 1672. The name refers to the god Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
, the messenger of the gods; the title also echos the Mercure françoys which was France's first literary gazette, founded in 1611 by the Paris bookseller J. Richer. The magazine's goal was to inform elegant society about life in the court and intellectual/artistic debates; the gazette (which appeared irregularly) featured poems, anecdotes, news (marriages, gossip), theatre and art reviews, songs, and fashion reviews, and it became fashionable (and sometimes scandalous) to be mentioned in its pages. Publication stopped in 1674, but began again as a monthly with the name Nouveau Mercure galant in 1677.
The Mercure galant was a significant development in the history of journalism (it was the first gazette to report on the fashion world (DeJean, 47)) and played a pivotal role in the dissemination of news about fashion, luxury goods, etiquette and court life under Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
to the provinces and abroad. In the 1670s, articles on the new season's fashions were also accompanied with engravings (DeJean, 63; see this work for an extensive analysis of the Mercure galant's mediatization of styles and fashion).
The gazette was frequently denigrated by authors of the period. The name Mercure galant was used by the playwright Edmé Boursault
Edmé Boursault
Edmé Boursault was a French dramatist and miscellaneous writer, born at Mussy l'Evéque, now Mussy-sur-Seine ....
for one of his plays critical of social pretensions; when Donneau de Visé complained, Boursault retitled his play Comédie sans titre (Play without a title).
The gazette played an important role in the "Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns
Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns
The quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns was a literary and artistic debate that heated up in the early 1690s and shook the Académie française.-Description:...
", a debate on whether the arts and literature of the 17th century had achieved more than the illustrious writers and artists of antiquity, which would last until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle , also called Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a French author.Fontenelle was born in Rouen, France and died in Paris just one month before his 100th birthday. His mother was the sister of great French dramatists Pierre and Thomas Corneille...
and the Mercure galant joined the "Moderns". Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux was a French poet and critic.-Biography:Boileau was born in the rue de Jérusalem, in Paris, France. He was brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière...
was pushed into the role of champion of the "Anciens", and Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
, Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
and Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère was a French essayist and moralist.-Ancestry:He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan in 1645...
(who is famous for a jibe against the gazette: "le Mercure... est immédiatement au dessous de rien" ["the Mercure... is immediately below nothing"]) took his defense.
The periodical eventually became a financial success and it brought Donneau de Visé comfortable revenues. The Mercure de France became the uncontested arbiter of French arts and humanities, and it has been called the most important literary journal in prerevolutionary France.
Thomas Corneille
Thomas Corneille
Thomas Corneille was a French dramatist.- Personal life :Born in Rouen nearly twenty years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself early. At the age of fifteen he composed a play in Latin which was performed by his fellow-pupils at the...
was a frequent contributor to the gazette. The Mercure continued to be published after Donneau de Visé's death in 1710. In 1724 its title was changed to Mercure de France and it developed a semi-official character with a governmentally-appointed editor (profits were invested into pensions for writers). Jean-François de la Harpe
Jean-François de La Harpe
Jean-François de La Harpe was a French playwright, writer and critic.-Life:La Harpe was born in Paris of poor parents. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family originally of Vaud...
was the editor in chief for 20 years; he also collaborated with Jacques Mallet du Pan
Jacques Mallet du Pan
Jacques Mallet du Pan , French journalist, of an old Huguenot family, was born near Geneva, the son of a Protestant minister.-Life:...
. Other significant editors and contributors include: Marmontel
Marmontel
Marmontel may refer to:* Jean-François Marmontel , a French literary figure* Antoine François Marmontel , a French pianist and musicographer...
, Raynal, Chamfort and Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
.
Right before the revolution, management was handed over to Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke was a French writer and publisher. He was responsible for numerous influential publications of the era, including the literary journal Mercure de France and the Encyclopédie Méthodique, a successor to the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot.Panckoucke was born in the city of...
. During the revolutionary era, the title was changed briefly to Le Mercure français. Napoleon stopped its publication in 1811, but the review was resurrected in 1815. The review was last published in 1825.
History
At the end of the 19th century, the name Mercure de France was revived by Alfred ValletteAlfred Vallette
Alfred Vallette was a French man of letters.He founded and edited the Le Mercure de France, a Symbolist review publication. His wife, Rachilde, helped him to edit it....
. Vallette was closely linked to a group of writers associated with Symbolism
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
who regularly met at the café la Mère Clarisse in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(rue Jacob), and which included: Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas , was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek during his youth.-Background:...
, Émile Raynaud, Pierre Arène, Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont was a French Symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars...
, Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
, Albert Samain
Albert Samain
Albert Victor Samain was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school.Born in Lille, his family were Flemish and had long lived in the town or its suburbs. At the time of the poet's birth, his father, Jean-Baptiste Samain, and his mother, Elisa-Henriette Mouquet, conducted a business in "wines...
and Charles Cros
Charles Cros
Charles Cros was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude, France, 35 km to the East of Carcassonne....
. The first edition of the review appeared on January 1, 1890.
Over the next decade, the review achieved critical success, and poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
and José-Maria de Heredia published original works in it. The review became bimonthly in 1905.
In 1889, Alfred Vallette married the novelist Rachilde
Rachilde
Rachilde was the nom de plume of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery, a French author who was born February 11, 1860 in Périgueux, Périgord, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire and died on April 4, 1953....
whose novel Monsieur Vénus was condemned on moral grounds. Rachilde was a member of the editorial committee of the review until 1924 and her personality and works did much to publicize the review. Rachilde held a salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
on Tuesdays, and these "mardis du Mercure" would become famous for the authors who attended.
Like other reviews of the period, the Mercure also began to publish books (beginning in 1894). Along with works by symbolists, the Mercure brought out the first French translations of Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, the first works of André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
, Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism.-Life:...
, Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
and Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire
Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
and the poems of Tristan Klingsor
Tristan Klingsor
Tristan Klingsor, birth name Léon Leclère , was a French poet, musician, painter and art critic, best known for his artistic association with the composer Maurice Ravel.His pseudonym, combining the names of Wagner's hero Tristan and his villain Klingsor...
. Later publications include works by: Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...
, Pierre Reverdy
Pierre Reverdy
Pierre Reverdy was a French poet associated with surrealism and cubism.Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne and grew up near the Montagne Noire in his father's house. Reverdy came from a family of sculptors. His father taught him to read and write. He studied at Toulouse and Narbonne.Reverdy...
, Pierre-Jean Jouve, Louis-René des Forêts, Pierre Klossowski
Pierre Klossowski
Pierre Klossowski was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus.-Life:...
, André du Bouchet
André du Bouchet
André du Bouchet was a French poet.- Biography :Born in Paris, he lived in France until 1941, when his family left occupied Europe for the United States. He studied at Amherst College and then at Harvard University . After teaching for a year, he returned to France...
, Georges Séféris, Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
and Yves Bonnefoy
Yves Bonnefoy
Yves Bonnefoy is a French poet and essayist. Bonnefoy was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, the son of a railroad worker and a teacher....
.
With the death of Vallette in 1935, the management was taken over by Georges Duhamel
Georges Duhamel
Georges Duhamel , was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published Confession de minuit , the first of a series featuring the anti-hero Salavin...
(who had been editing the review since 1912). In 1938, because of Duhamel's anti-war stance, he was replaced by Jacques Bernard
Jacques Bernard
Jacques Bernard , French theologian and publicist, was born at Nions in Dauphiné.Having studied at Geneva, he returned to France in 1679, and was chosen minister of Venterol in Dauphiné. Afterwards, he removed to the church of Vinsobres...
(in 1945, Bernard would be arrested and condemned for collaboration with the Germans). After the war, Duhamel (who was majority stock-holder of the publishing house) appointed Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television character actor.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman, like Fred Astaire, began performing as a dancer with his sister...
to run the review (Hartman had participated in the resistance and clandestine publishing during the war).
In 1958, the Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard is one of the leading French publishers of books. The Guardian has described it as having "the best backlist in the world". In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1418 titles....
publishing group bought the Mercure de France and Simone Gallimard was chosen as its director. In 1995, Isabelle Gallimard took over direction of the publishing house.
Literary Prizes
Mercure de France has won awards with the following authors:- Salvat EtchartSalvat EtchartSalvat Etchart was a French writer, winner of the 1967 Prix Renaudot.- Biography :He moved to Martinique in 1955. He was critical of neo-colonial society.He taught French literature in Quebec, beginning in 1970.-Works:...
(Prix RenaudotPrix RenaudotThe Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot is a French literary award which was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of the deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt....
1967) - Claude Farrigi (Prix FéminaPrix FeminaThe Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse . The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury, although the authors of the winning works do not have to be women...
1975) - Michel Butel (Prix MédicisPrix MédicisThe Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
1977) - Jocelyne FrançoisJocelyne FrançoisJocelyne François is a French writer. She is the author of five lesbian novels, and winner of the Prix Femina.-Career:...
(Prix FéminaPrix FeminaThe Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse . The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury, although the authors of the winning works do not have to be women...
1980) - François-Olivier Rousseau (Prix MédicisPrix MédicisThe Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
et Prix Proust 1981) - Nicolas BréhalNicolas BréhalNicolas Bréhal was a French novelist and literary critic.He was literary director at the Mercure de France and literary critic ar Le Monde and Le Figaro....
(Prix Valery Larbaud 1992) - Paula JacquesPaula JacquesPaula Jacques is a French writer and winner of the Prix Femina, 1991, for Deborah et les anges dissipés.-References:...
(Prix FéminaPrix FeminaThe Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse . The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury, although the authors of the winning works do not have to be women...
1991) - Dominique Bona (Prix InteralliéPrix InteralliéThe prix Interallié , also known simply as l’Interallié, is an annual French literary award, awarded for a novel written by a journalist.- History :...
1992) - Andreï MakineAndreï MakineAndreï Makine is a Russian-born French author. He also publishes under the pseudonym Gabriel Osmonde. Makine's novels include Dreams of My Russian Summers which won two top French awards, the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis.-Biography:Andreï Makine was born in Krasnoyarsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet...
(Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
and Prix MédicisPrix MédicisThe Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
1995) - Gilles LeroyGilles LeroyGilles Leroy is a French writer. He studied at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, which appears in his 1996 novel, Les Maîtres du monde, as the "Lycée Ducasse"...
(Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
2007) - Romain GaryRomain GaryRomain Gary was a French diplomat, novelist, film director, World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice .- Early life :Gary was born in Vilnius under the name Roman Kacew...
published his novels under the pen-name Émile Ajar (with the complicity of Simone Gallimard) which allowed him to win an unprecedented two Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
.
External links
- Official website
- Le Mercure de France online from 1672 to 1674, from 1678 to 1682 and from de 1890 à 1935 in Gallica, the digital library of the BnFBNFBNF may stand for:In science:*Biological nitrogen fixation, a process that converts nitrogen in the atmosphere to ammonia*British National Formulary, the standard drug reference manual**British National Formulary for Children...
.