Jean Anouilh

Author profile

born

in Bordeaux, France

June 23, 1910

died

October 03, 1987

gender

male

About this author

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Anouilh was born in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux and had Basque ancestry. His father was a tailor and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, a violinist who supplemented the family's meager income by playing summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon.
He attended école primaire supérieure where he received his secondary education at the Collège Chaptal. Jean-Louis Barrault, later a major French director, was a pupil there at the same time and recalls Anouilh as an intense, rather dandified figure who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger than himself. Anouilh enrolled as a law student...more Anouilh was born in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux and had Basque ancestry. His father was a tailor and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, a violinist who supplemented the family's meager income by playing summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon.
He attended école primaire supérieure where he received his secondary education at the Collège Chaptal. Jean-Louis Barrault, later a major French director, was a pupil there at the same time and recalls Anouilh as an intense, rather dandified figure who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger than himself. Anouilh enrolled as a law student in the University of Paris, only to abandon the course after just eighteen months when he found employment in the advertising industry. He liked the work and spoke more than once with wry approval of the lessons in the classical virtues of brevity and precision of language he learned while drafting copy.
In 1932, his first play, L’Hermine, written in 1929, was unsuccessful, but he followed it up with a string of others. He struggled through years of poverty producing several plays until he eventually wound up as secretary to the great actor-director Louis Jouvet. He quickly discovered he could not get along with this gruff man and left his company. During the Nazi occupation of France, Anouilh did not openly take sides, though he published the play Antigone, often viewed as his most famous work. The play criticises - in an allegorical manner - collaborationism with the Nazis. Mostly keeping aloof from politics, Anouilh also clashed with de Gaulle in the 1950s.
In 1964, Anouilh's play Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu (Becket or The Honor of God) was made into a successful film, starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton. The screenwriter who adapted it, Edward Anhalt, won an Academy Award for his screenplay.
Anouilh himself grouped his plays on the basis of their dominant tone: "black" (tragedies and realistic plays), "pink" (where fantasy dominates), "brilliant" ('pink' and 'black' combined in aristocratic environments), "jarring" ('black' plays with bitter humour), "costumed" (historical characters feature), "baroque", and my failures (mes fours).
In 1970 his work was recognized with the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca.

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Average rating: 3.77 · 6,328 ratings · 196 reviews · 84 distinct works · Similar authors

	Antigone 3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 4,955 ratings — published 1944 — 24 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Becket by Jean Anouilh, Lucienne Hill (Translator), André Aciman (Goodreads Author) (Foreword by) 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 589 ratings — published 1959 — 27 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Le Voyageur Sans Bagage 3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 avg rating — 168 ratings — published 1958 — 8 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Five Plays: Antigone, Eurydice, The Ermine, The Rehearsal, Romeo and Jeannette 4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 116 ratings — published 1958 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lark by Jean Anouilh, Lillian Hellman (Translator) 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 1952 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Le Bal Des Voleurs: Comédie Ballet 3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 1390 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Médée 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 32 ratings	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Anouilh Plays: 1: Antigone, Leocardia, The Waltz of the Toreasors, The Lark, Poor Bitos by Jean Anouilh, Christopher Fry (Translator), Barbara Broy (Translator) 4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1987	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La sauvage: suivi de L'invitation au château 3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1972 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ring Round the Moon: A Charade with Music 3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1965 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Jean Anouilh

“There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.”
― Jean Anouilh

tags: life, lost, love

176 people liked it

“I spit on your happiness! I spit on your idea of life--that life that must go on, come what may. You are all like dogs that lick everything they smell. You with your promise of a humdrum happiness--provided a person doesn't ask much of life. I want everything of life, I do; and I want it now! I want it total, complete: otherwise I reject it! I will not be moderate. I will not be satisfied with the bit of cake you offer me if I promise to be a good little girl. I want to be sure of everything this very day; sure that everything will be as beautiful as when I was a little girl. If not, I want to die!”
― Jean Anouilh, Antigone

tags: cynicism, happiness, hope, society

83 people liked it

“Things are beautiful if you love them. ”
― Jean Anouilh

tags: life

27 people liked it

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Jean Anouilh

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