Background
Danoën was born Émile Orvoën, to Pierre Orvoën and Léonie Le Doze at Moëlan-sur-Mer in Finistère, Brittany, but he grew up in the seamen"s hostel run by his parents in the district of Saint-François in Le Havre.
Danoën was born Émile Orvoën, to Pierre Orvoën and Léonie Le Doze at Moëlan-sur-Mer in Finistère, Brittany, but he grew up in the seamen"s hostel run by his parents in the district of Saint-François in Le Havre.
He worked at the magazine Les Cahiers du Sud while at the same time appearing in bars and restaurants in the old port working as a street violinist. At this time he met such writers as Joey Bousquet, François Le Lionnais, Paul Valéry, Paul Eluard, Lanza del Vasto and André Gide. He became close to Gabriel Bertin, to whom he dedicated his first novel, Cerfs-volants.
At the end of the German Occupation of France, Georgette died of tuberculosis, following the privations of war.
Danoën moved to Paris where he became literary critic of Louis Aragon"s journal Ce Soir. He wrote columns and stories for various publications such as Action, L’Aurore, Bref, Les Cahiers du peuple, Europe, Existences, Louisiana Gazette des lettres, Les Lettres françaises, Mystère Magazine, Louisiana Nef and others
She worked at the Pairie générale de la Seine and was an activist of the Confédération générale du travail. Their relationship inspired his novel L"Heureuse aventure (The Happy Adventure).
In 1952 he returned to living with Christiane Motoret, which he did until her death in May 1972.
Together they had one daughter, Laurence Motoret. While writing and diligently studying at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, (especially documents concerning the anarchist Jules Durand, to whom he devoted an unpublished novel), he temporarily worked as a college supervisor, a night watchman in a warehouse, a sailing, tennis or ping-pong instructor and many other jobs. Emile Danoën died in its 80th year Meudon, where he lived with a friend of his youth.
Some of his works were translated into English, Russian and Chinese.