Paris 2015: Esprit, Émile and Jacques-Émile Blanche, Cimetière de Passy #8

Several members of the Blanche family lie here. Esprit Blanche (1796–1852) was a psychiatrist based in Montmartre and later (from 1846) in Passy; his grandson was the writer Georges Ohnet. Esprit's son Émile Blanche (1820–93), also a psychiatrist, took over the clinic after his father's death, and included Nerval and Maupassant among his patients. Émile's son Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861–1942) was a painter, engraver and writer who was taught English by Stéphane Mallarmé at the Lycée Condorcet. Among his friends were Henri Bergson, André Gide, the Surrealists and the Dadaists. And among his famous works are portraits of Pierre Louÿs and Aubrey Beardsley.

Paris 2015: Arthème and Jean Fayard, Cimetière de Passy #7

Joseph Arthème Fayard (1866–1936) was the son of Joseph-François Arthème Fayard, the founder of Librairie Arthème Fayard, and took over the business in 1894. Under his father the firm specialised in more popular literature, although Arthème fils changed the orientation. A friend of Léon Daudet, he published the complete works of his brother Alphonse, and went on to publish  Maurice Barrès, Paul Bourget and Marcel Prévost.

His son Jean Fayard (1902–78) took over on his father's death in 1936. The same year he sold off the notorious Je suis partout, which his father had started publishing in 1930, and which in the war years became the principal organ of collaborationism and anti-semitic expression.

Jean Fayard also wrote a large number of works, notably the novel Mal d'amour, which won the Goncourt in 1931.

(In this shot, the huge, impressive chapel of the painter and writer Marie Bashkirtseff – featured in an earlier post on this blog – is clearly visible to the upper left of this tomb.)

Paris 2015: Maurice Paléologue, Cimetière de Passy #6

'PALÉOLOGUE
MAURICE
DE L'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE
AMBASSADEUR DE FRANCE
'1908 – 1977
MDCCCLIX – MDCCCCXLIV'

 

As well as a diplomat, Paléologue was a writer of many works of non-fiction (mainly historical), and several of these books are available online.

Paris 2015: Lucie Faure, Cimetière de Passy #5

 

'LUCIE FAURE
ÉCRIVAIN FRANÇAIS
'1908 – 1977
––––'

 

Lucie Faure, born in Boissise-la-Bertrand (Seine-et-Marne), was a novelist and magazine director. In Algiers in 1944 she created La Nef (La Nouvelle équipe française) with Robert Aron, which was later published in Paris.

Faure's published novels and short stories, etc, include Journal d'un voyage en Chine, (1958), Les Passions indécises (1961), Les Filles du Calvaire (1963), Variations sur l'imposture (1965), L'Autre personne (1968), Le Malheur fou (1970), Les Bons enfants (1972), Mardi à l’aube (1974), Un crime si juste (1976) and Les Destins ambigus (1978).

Paris 2015: René Boylesve, Cimetière de Passy #4

'RENÉ BOYLESVE
ÉCRIVAIN FRANÇAIS
'1867 – 1926'

René Boylesve was a new name to me, although there is a great deal of information out there about the man and his works. But I'll trust the dreaded Wikipédia for potted information on him, which tells me that he was born in Descartes (Indre et Loire), where there is a bust of him in the park. There is no mention of Balzac there, although the (surely hyperbolic if not ludicrous) English Wikipedia entry calls him an heir to Balzac and a precursor of Proust. Whatever his importance, he wrote a great number of works, and of course the French site lists far more. Some of his works are available online through Gallica.

Paris 2015: Louis Castex, Cimetière de Passy #3

As well as being a pioneering aviator, Colonel Louis Castex also wrote a number of popular books about his exploits, among which are:

Mon tour du monde en avion. Carnet de notes tenu au jour le jour sur 50000 ks de vol [1944], with a Preface by Roland Dorgelès.

L'Age de l'air, 25 ans d'aviation commerciale dans le monde, 1920-1945 (1946), with a Préface de Henri Farman.

L'Amérique devant le conflit : impressions et souvenirs, 1941 (1947).

Les secrets de l'île de Pâques (1966).

Paris 2015: François Raynouard, Cimetière de Passy #2

'RAYNOUARD
FRANÇOIS JUST MARIE
DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE'

 

François Just Marie Raynouard (1761–1836), who was born in Aix-en-Provence, is most noted not so much for his early plays as for his translations of the troubadours, and is considered as an important precursor of the félibrige group.

Paris 2015: Michel Droit, Cimetière de Passy #1

'MICHEL DROIT
de l'Académie française
1923 – 2000'

 

Michel Droit was a novelist and journalist. His first novel, Plus rien au monde (1954) gained the prix Max-Barthou, and in 1964 he received the grand prix du roman de l'Académie française for Le Retour.

He is remembered for his television interviews of de Gaulle, and in 1979 for his extremely strong reaction against Serge Gainsbourg's song 'Aux armes et cætera', which was a great hit that angered many members of the military and other members of the right. Droit went as far, in the right-wing paper Le Figaro, as to say that he felt the urge to become an ecologist because of Gainsbourg's 'pollution' of the French national song La Marseillaise. Gainsbourg responded with an article in Le Matin-Dimanche titled 'On n’a pas le con d’être aussi Droit', which because of its pun I won't venture to translate, but he was certainly calling Droit, let's say, pretty silly.

Square Lamartine, 16th arrondissement, Paris

The notes in French below are taken from a paragraph at the entrance to the square, and the English is my translation of them.

'Square Lamartine

1862

En 1860, le poète Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869), ruiné par sa trop grande prodigalité, accepta, à contre-cœur, d'habiter un chalet de l'avenue Henri-Martin, cadeau de la Ville de Paris. Une statue (1951), œuvre de Paul François Niclausse (1879–1958), le représente.'

'In 1860 the poet Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869), ruined by his huge extravagance, reluctantly accepted to live in a chalet on avenue Henri-Martin, a gift from the town of Paris. A statue (1951), the work of Paul François Niclausse (1879–1958), represents him.'

'Un monument (1904) de Jean-Baptiste Champeil est dédie au compositeur français Benjamin Godard.'

'A monument (1904) by Jean-Baptiste Champeil is dedicated to the French composer Benjamin Godard.' (Unfortunately with pigeons here.)

'La fontaine, située devant le square, alimenté par un puits artésien creusé en 1861, servait, à l'origine, à alimenté les riviéres et les lacs du bois de Boulogne. Son eau, provenant de la nappe phréatique albienne, aurait des vertus thératpeutiques.'

'The fountain in front of the square, fed by an artesian well dug out in 1861, originally served to feed the rivers and lakes of the Bois de Boulogne. Its water, coming from an Albian water table, had therapeutic qualities.'

'PUITS

ARTÉSIEN

DE

PASSY

FORÉ EN 1855'

Yes, work began on the well in 1855, but it wasn't actually completed until 1861.

Cimetière de Passy #7: Renée Vivien

'ICI REPOSE

LA GRANDE POÉTESSE

RENÉE VIVIEN

PAULINE MARY TARN

Décédée

LE 18 NOVEMBRE

1909

ÉPITAPHE

Voici la porte d'où je sors...

Ô mes roses et mes épines!

Qu'importe l'autrefois? Je dors

En songeant des choses divines...

Voici donc mon âme ravie,

Car elle s'apaise et s'endort

Ayant pour l'amour de la Mort,

Pardonné ce crime: la Vie!

Renée Vivien'

Renée Vivien (1877–1909), née Pauline Mary Tarn in London, was the daughter of an American woman and a wealthy British man who died in 1886, leaving her far from need. Vivien travelled a great deal and had a stormy relationship with Natalie Barney, who is also buried in Passy, and whom I mentioned here.

Below is a link to an earlier post I made on graves in Passy:

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Passy graves

Cimetière de Passy #6: Gérard de Villiers

'Gérard de VILLIERS

1929–2013

SAS'

This is of course a recent addition to the cemetery, and again I'm grateful to the anonymous and very helpful man who pointed this out to us. The 'SAS' above refers to an imprint devoted to spy books, and Wikipedia tells me that Gérard de Villiers is considered by many as a 'roman de gare' (more or less a 'beach read') author.

Below is a link to an earlier post I made on graves in Passy:

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Passy graves

Cimetière de Passy #5: Haroun Tazieff

'Haroun TAZIEFF

(11 mai 1914 – 2 février 1998)

Mondialement connu pour ses travaux

sur les volcans en activité.

Pendant près de 40 ans, il est appelé en consultation

dans les pays où une catastrophe survient.

Il dirige ses recherches sur le terrain

suscitant de nombreuses vocations

et le renouveau des sciences de la terre.'

Vulcanologist Haroun Tazieff may be known throughout the world for his work, although I doubt that many people have heard of him in the UK, but then there aren't too many volcanoes there.

I wouldn't even have noticed this grave if a very helpful local hadn't pointed it out to us, adding that the artwork in Mayan style is actually made from lava.

Below is a link to an earlier post I made on graves in Passy:

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Passy graves

Cimetière de Passy #4: Henri Bernstein

'HENRI BERNSTEIN

JUIN 1876 – NOVEMBRE 1953'

Henri Bernstein was a playwright who found popularity with Le Voleur (1906). He later achieved notoriety with Après moi (1911), a play involving a Jewish deserter, and Bernstein had 'deserted' during his military service.

From 1926 to 1939 Bernstein directed the Théâtre du Gymnase and was noted for such plays La Rafale (1905), La Galerie des Glaces (1924), Mélo (1929), Le Bonheur (1933) and Elvire (1939), the last of which featured concentration camps.

Bernstein was in exile in the United States duriung World War II, where Portrait d'un défaitiste – a representation of Petain – met with considerable interest.

Below is a link to an earlier post I made on graves in Passy:

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Passy graves

Cimetière de Passy #3: André Siegfried

'ANDRÉ SIEGFRIED

DE L'ACADÉMIE

FRANÇAISE

1875–1959'

André Siegfried was a French sociologist, historian, geographer and proto-psephologist. His publications are diverse and numerous.

Below is a link to an earlier post I made on graves in Passy:

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Passy graves

Cimetière de Passy #2: Francis de Croisset

Francis de Croisset (1877 – not 1876 as on the tomb – to 1937) was born Franz Weiner in Belgium and moved to Paris in 1897, choosing the name 'Croisset' because of its associations with Flaubert. He sought scandal through his plays, was frequently in the newspapers, and was the inspiration behind Proust's Bloch and Jacques du Roszier. On marrying he moved to Grasse, although he spent his final years in Paris.

Below is a link to an earlier post I made on graves in Passy:

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Passy graves

Natalie Barney in the Cimetière de Passy, 16th arrondissement

 

'NATALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY
ÉCRIVAIN
1876 – 1972
ELLE FUT L'AMAZONE DE REMY DE GOURMONT

JE SUIS CET ÊTRE LÉGENDAIRE

OÙ JE REVIS N.C.B.

ET SA SOEUR

LAURA CLIFFORD BARNEY
OFFICIER DE LA LÉGION D'HONNEUR
1879 – 1974
VEUVE D'HIPPOLYTE DREYFUS
MEMBRE
DE
LA COMMUNAUTÉ BAHA'IE'

In L'imaginaire du féminin dans l'oeuvre de Renée Vivien (2004), Marie-Ange Bartholomot Bessou writes that Jean Chalon says Barney was, in the final years of her life, particularly concerned with the choice of her epitaph, that it should be worthy of her perceived legend. Remy de Gourmont certainly did call her 'The Amazon', and Gourmont published his creative letters of their conversations in Mercure de France, later to be incorporated into the book Lettres à l'Amazone (1917). But 'I am this legendary being in which I live again'? That's strong stuff.

I spent some time looking for Renée Vivien's tomb in the Cimetière de Passy, and now realize that I was ignoring the absolutely obvious. A further search shall be for later this year, and with it must come a proper look into Bartholomot Bessou's work on Renée Vivien. This is really very interesting.

Laura Clifford Barney looks interesting too, but that's another story.

Virgil Gheorgiu, Cimetière de Passy, 16th arrondissement

Virgil Gheorghiu (1916–92) was a Rumanian writer whose most important novel was The Twenty-Fifth Hour (1949; trans. 1950), which was adapted into a film in 1967 by Henri Verneuil. It is a denunciation of totalitarian regimes and of the impersonalization of society, and the French Preface was written by Gabriel Marcel.

In 1952 Gheorghiu was vigorously accused of anti-Semitism by the press, the accusations dating from when he was a war correspondent. He refused to deny the charges, causing Marcel to demand that the publisher remove his Preface from future editions of the novel.

Passy Cemetery / Cimetière de Passy, 16th arrondissement, Passy, Paris, France: Literary Île-de-France #26

Octave Mirbeau (1848—1917) was an avant-garde writer, an influential journalist and an art critic whose views caused a great deal of disturbance to defenders of the status quo.

He was an atheist, pacifist, and anarchist who railed against a large number of institutions: the family, education, the Catholic Church, capitalism, the political system, etc.

Today Mirbeau is remembered most for his novel Le Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid) (1900), which Luis Buñuel very successfully filmed in 1964. This novel and two others — Le Jardin des supplices (Torture Garden) (1899) and Les Vingt et un Jours d'un neurasthénique (A Neurotic's 21 Days) (1901) ­—attacked bourgeois 'respectability', and all caused something of a scandal.

Date of photo unknown.

Maurice Genevoix (1890—1980) is noted for his regional novels (Solange, and the Loire valley), his nature poetry, and his writings on World War I. He won the Prix Goncourt in 1925 with Raboliot.

The childhood of Marie Bashkirtseff (1858—84), who was born into the Ukrainian aristocracy, was nomadic and took her across Europe. She was a painter and sculptor who is noted for her Journal (1887), started at the age of fifteen, which was written in French.

Her grave is an artist's studio, and has been declared a historic monument. Around the door, many of her artistic works are engraved in the stone.

Bashkirtseff's name and the dates of her short life (she died at 25) framed by painting palettes.

Jean Giraudoux (1882—1944) was mainly a dramatist, noted for La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu (1935) and Amphytryon 38 (1929).

Gabriel Marcel (1889—1973) was a Christian existentialist philosopher and playwright, amongst whose important philosophical works are Being and Having and The Mystery of Being (1951).

Dramatist and journalist Édouard Bourdet (1887—1945) was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and his first wife was the poet Catherine Pozzi. He became a major writer of boulevard plays in the interwar years. Fric-Frac (1936) was a big commercial success, and adapted into a cinematic version in 1939. Arletty called it one of Bourdet's great plays.