Raymond Schwartz was a French banker and Esperanto

Esperanto

is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...

 author who wrote many poems and novels in Esperanto, as well as skits which he directed for 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...

ian Esperanto

Esperanto

is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...

 cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

s.

Biography

Born in Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

, a city in Alsace-Lorraine

Alsace-Lorraine

The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...

 (German: Elsass-Lothringen) that from 1871

Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)

The Treaty of Frankfurt was a peace treaty signed in Frankfurt on 10 May 1871, at the end of the Franco-Prussian War.- Summary :The treaty did the following:...

 to 1918 was part of Germany

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, his family was French-speaking. He received a good education in Metz and spoke not only French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 often but also Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

.

Very early he became an Esperantist

Esperantist

An Esperantist is a person who speaks or uses Esperanto. Etymologically, an Esperantist is someone who hopes...

 and dreamt of a better future through the diffusion of Esperanto. 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...

, when he was conscripted into the German army and had to fight on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War I)

The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...

, was a disaster for him as a pacifist

Pacifism

Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...

 and for the Esperanto movement in general. After the war he did not remain at Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

, now again a French city, but moved to Paris, where he worked in a large banking firm until his retirement.

Esperanto writings

Between the wars he published in different periodicals, particularly in Literatura Mondo, and wrote two volumes of poetry. His poetic works Verdkata testamento ("The will of the green cat") (1926) and Stranga butiko ("The strange boutique") (1931) are imaginative and humorous fantasies involving word games, characteristics also found in Prozo ridetanta (1928) ("Smiling prose").

His short novel Anni kaj Montmartre ("Annie and Montmartre", 1930) recounts the adventures of a young naîve German woman in Paris; it departs from the conventions of original Esperanto literature, in particular because of its style of writing.

From 1933 to 1935 he published the monthly satirical magazine La Pirato ("The Pirate"), which made him a sort of enfant terrible of the Esperanto movement, one for whom there were no secrets and for whom everything was an occasion for humour.

His masterwork, published after 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...

, is Kiel akvo de l' rivero ("Like the water of the river"), considered as his most significant and most moving book. This is a partly autobiographical novel of a young Frenchman from the Franco-German frontier who comes to Berlin after graduation but must flee at the outbreak of war in 1914. During the occupation of France by Nazi Germany he joins the French Resistance

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...

. After the war he once more meets in Paris the woman he loved as a young man in Berlin. This classic novel about a family torn apart by two world wars is both serious and amusing.

He collaborated on Sennacieca Revuo, an annual cultural review published by Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda

Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda

Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda is an independent worldwide cultural Esperanto association of a general left-wing orientation. Its headquarters are in Paris. According to Jacques Schram, chairman of the Executive Committee, the membership totalled 881 in 2003...

 (World Non-National Association), writing a column titled "Laŭ mia ridpunkto." The name was a portmanteau word

Portmanteau word

A portmanteau or portmanteau word is a blend of two words or morphemes into one new word. A portmanteau word typically combines both sounds and meanings, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog. More generally, it may refer to any term or phrase that combines two or more meanings...

 formed from vidpunkto, (Esperanto for "viewpoint") and rid (a word meaning "to laugh"). The column itself was written in a humorous style that included kalemburoj (pun

Pun

The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

s) and antistrofoj (spoonerism

Spoonerism

A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...

s).

Cabaret

Serious and competent in his profession, he showed an altogether different face in the Esperanto cabarets, where he created many skits, creating for Esperantists the character of a merry drunkard. Since 1881 there had been 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...

 a famous cabaret known as Le Chat Noir

Le Chat Noir

Le Chat Noir was a 19th-century cabaret, meaning entertainment house, in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris...

 ("The Black Cat"). At Montmartre

Montmartre

Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

, on the outskirts of Paris, he founded in December 1920 an Esperanto cabaret called La Verda Kato ("The Green Cat"), which he directed from 1920 to 1926, as well as La Bolanta Kaldrono ("The Boiling Cauldron"), which ran from 1936 to 1939. In 1949 he was joint founder of Tri Koboldoj ("Three Imps"), which continued in existence until 1956. His skits and books were amusing, spiritual and sometime risqué. "If people cannot laugh at themselves, they have not grown up" was a favourite saying of his.

Literary Works

• Verdkata testamento (1926 poetry collection, reprinted 1930, 1974, 1992) With afterword by Reinhard Haupenthal, Iltis-Eld., Saarbrücken: 1992, 121 pp. ISBN 3-927613-20-7
• Prozo ridetanta (1928 prose works) Esperantista Centra Librejo, Paris, 1928. 126 pp.
• Anni kaj Montmartre (1930 novel, illustrated by Raymond Laval, reprinted 1974) Solsona, Paris: 1930; 1974 reprint by Dansk Esperanto-Forlag, Aabyhoj. ISBN 87-85020-75-3
• La stranga butiko (1931 poetry collection), illustrated by Raymond Laval, Solsona: Paris, 1930., 124 pp.
• La ĝoja podio (1949 poetry collection) Esperantista Centra Librejo , Paris. 271 pp.
• Kia honto (1950 original stories) Regensburg, 50 pp.
• Kiel akvo de l’ rivero (1963 novel, reprinted 1987, 1991) Edistudio, Pisa. 487 pp. ISBN 88-7036-048-2
• "La ĝendarmo deĵoras" and "Bapto de l’ sonorilo en Mulmont" in 33 rakontoj (an Esperanto anthology), Régulo, La Laguna: 1964, 328 pp. (Vol. XVII in Bel-literatura eldon-serio.)
• Kun siaspeca spico (1971 humorous essay anthology) Includes all the "Laŭ mia ridpunkto" columns, 215 pp.
• Vole... Novele: aŭ kvindek jaroj da noveloj,1920 - 1970 (1971 novellas, reprinted 1987) TK: Copenhagen, 1971, 192 pp. ISBN 87-87089-01-7; reprinted 1987 by Iltis-Eld., Saarbrücken
• "Bapto de l’ sonorilo en Mulmont" (from La ĝoja podio), "La pipo de Prosper" and "La ĝendarmo deĵoras" in Trezoro: la Esperanta novelarto 1887-1986, Reto Rossetti and Henri Vatré, eds., Hungara Esperanto-Asocio, Budapest: 1989. ISBN 963-571-105-0
• "La ĝendarmo deĵoras" in Vivo kaj morto de Wiederboren Sezonoj:Jekaterinburg, 1998, 80 pp.

Articles

• Ne kiel Meier: Invito al revizio de niaj konceptoj pri la konjugacio en Esperanto, Unuiĝo Franca por Esperanto, Paris, 1930, 47 pp., reprinted 1964.
• Foreword by Raymond Schwartz in Cezaro Rossetti's Kredu min, sinjorino, Heroldo de Esperanto, Scheveningen, 1950, 260 pp., reprinted 1974, 1990
• "Sen mistiko kontraŭ mistifiko" in La Zamenhofa Esperanto, Hendrik A. de Hoog, ed., Régulo: La Laguna (1961), 329 pp.
• "Kompleta inventaro de la pasivaj participoj -ata kaj -ita kunligitaj kun la formo de la verbo esti en la verko La rabistoj." Paris: 1968, 10 pp., reprinted 1995
• "Lirica e praticità; Liriko kaj praktiko; Le diverse età dell' uomo; La diversaj aĝoj de l' homo" in El la nova ĝardeno (Dal nuovo giardino), Dante Bertolini, ed., Pedrazzini: Locarno, 1979, 100 pp.
• "Esperantisto, ekesto kaj malapero" and "Esperanta eliksiro" in Nova Esperanta krestomatio, William Auld, ed., Universala Esperanto-Asocio: Rotterdam: 1991, 509 pp., ISBN 92-9017-043-3. Series title: Jubilea kolekto Jarcento de Esperanto

Musical lyrics

• Paris toujours Paris (Parizo ĉiam Parizo). French lyrics by L. Bergen le Play, tr. into Esperanto by Raymond Schwartz; music composed by J. M. Hamonic. Omnium, Paris: 1930.
• Ĉiu ĉiu. French lyrics by André Hornez, tr. into Esperanto by Raymond Schwartz; music composed by Nicanor Molinare. Ed. Musicales Imperia, Paris, 1948.
• Koro estas eta instrument sekreta. Esperanto lyrics by Raymond Schwartz, tr. into Polish and arranged by Zbigniew Sochacki. Music composed by Oktawian Kalmanowicz. Pola Esperanto Asocio, Lublin, 1960.

Literary appreciation and criticism

• Marie-Thérèse Lloancy, Esperanto et jeu de mots dans l’oeuvre de Raymond Schwartz, thesis dissertation for Université René Descartes, Paris, 1985
• Marie-Thérèse Lloancy, "Les jeux de mots de Raymond Schwartz dans trois ouvrages en Espéranto publiés par Stafeto - La Zamenhofa Esperanto, Kiel akvo de l’ rivero et Kun siaspeca spico" in Serta gratulatoria in honorem Juan Régulo. Universidad de La Laguna, Salamanca, 3,266 pp., 1986 ISBN 84-600-4290-1
• Jean Thierry, "Raymond Schwartz (1894-1973) la vortĵonglisto" in La stato kaj estonteco de la internacia lingvo Esperanto (Proceedings of the first symposium of the Esperanto Academy (Prague, 1994). Petr Chrdle, ed., LinkKava-Pech: Prague, 1995, 190 pp. ISBN 80-85853-08-6
• Paul P. Gubbins, "Majstra muzikado: Berlino en romanoj de Varankin kaj Schwartz" in Lingva arto. Vilmos Benczik, ed., Universala Esperanto-Asocio, Rotterdam: 1999, 217 pp. ISBN 92-9017-064-6

Biographical Works

• Roger Bernard, Raymond Schwartz: lia vivo kaj verkaro. Kultura Centro Esperantista, La Chaux-de-Fonds: 1977.

External links

• Raymond Schwartz bibliography in the catalogue of the German National Library
• Raymond Schwartz bibliography in the Planned Languages Collection, Austrian National Library extracts from Verdkata testamento La rido kaj vervo de Raymond Schwartz (The humour and verve of Raymond Schwartz) La Stranga Butiko (Ironic poems) E-texts of Schwartz works Short biography and bibliography Biography, and the story "Nelojale"