(The Book of Monelle was the result of Schwob’s intense em...)
The Book of Monelle was the result of Schwob’s intense emotional suffering over the loss of his love, a “girl of the streets” named Louise, whom he had befriended in 1891 and who succumbed to tuberculosis two years later. Transforming her into the innocent prophet of destruction, Monelle, Schwob tells the stories of her various sisters: girls succumbing to disillusionment, caught between the misleading world of childlike fantasy and the bitter world of reality. This new translation reintroduces a true fin-de-siècle masterpiece into English.
(Marcel Schwob’s 1896 novella The Children’s Crusade retel...)
Marcel Schwob’s 1896 novella The Children’s Crusade retells the medieval legend of the exodus of some 30,000 children from all countries to the Holy Land, who traveled to the shores of the sea, which ― instead of parting to allow them to march on to Jerusalem ― instead delivered them to merchants who sold them into slavery in Tunisia or delivered them to a watery death. It is a cruel and sorrowful story mingling history and legend, which Schwob recounts through the voices of eight different protagonists: a goliard, a leper, Pope Innocent III, a cleric, a qalandar and Pope Gregory IX, as well as two of the marching children, whose naive faith eventually turns into growing fear and anguish.
(Imaginary Lives remains, over 120 years since its origina...)
Imaginary Lives remains, over 120 years since its original publication in French, one of the secret keys to modern literature: under-recognized, yet a decisive influence on such writers as Apollinaire, Borges, Jarry and Artaud, and more contemporary authors such as Roberto Bolaño and Jean Echenoz. Drawing from historical influences such as Plutarch and Diogenes Laërtius, and authors more contemporary to him such as Thomas De Quincey and Walter Pater, Schwob established the genre of fictional biography with this collection: a form of narrative that championed the specificity of the individual over the generality of history, and the memorable detail of a vice over the forgettable banality of a virtue.
(This book contains short stories deal with the lives of a...)
This book contains short stories deal with the lives of ancient Romans, medieval heretics, Joan of Arc's judge, English murderers, and other characters.
Marcel Schwob was a French author. He was known for his short stories.
Background
Marcel Schwob was born on August 23, 1867, in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, Ile-de-France, France. His father was Georges Schwob, who had served the government as part of the staff of the French viceroy in Egypt, but left that post shortly after Marcel was born to pursue a career in journalism. His mother was Mathilde Cahun, who came from a long line of Rabbis and could trace her Jewish ancestry to the twelfth century Kaims. She placed great emphasis on the importance of learning and provided her children with tutors early in life. Marcel was the brother of Maurice Schwob and Maggie Schwob.
Education
When Marcel Schwob was three, he had already spoken English and German. When he was fourteen, Schwob took up residence with his maternal uncle Leon Cahun in Paris, so as to be able to attend the lycee Louis-le-Grand (from 1881 to 1885). His education was not entirely restricted to the lycee, however, as Cahun had only recently retired from his job as a librarian for the Bibliothèque Mazarine, and was both an expert in ancient languages and an author in his own right. Schwob’s uncle Leon encouraged his interest in reading, his favorite subjects being adventure stories, historical romances, and Poe’s wild tales, but he also introduced his nephew to something like literary theory, at least insofar as the question of translation was concerned. Schwob adopted his rigorous standards, and learned to translate the spirit, rather than the letter, of his source texts.
Schwob took to education as his natural element, and excelled in his studies, taking numerous prizes. As a teenager, he translated the Roman poet Catullus, and had completed his first novel, a historical romance set in Rome, by the age of nineteen. In addition to Poe, he devoured the decadent prose of J. K. Huysmans and Charles Baudelaire, began a lifelong study of the medieval French poet Francois Villon, and imbibed the nihilistic pessimism of Arthur Schopenhauer. In July 1888, he was denied admission to L’Ecole Normale, lacking the half point necessary for entry. Despite his rejection from Normale, Schwob received his license and went on to study with Michel Bréal, taking linguistic courses from both him and Ferdinand de Saussure.
From 1885 to 1887 Marcel Schwob served at the 35th Artillery Regiment in Vannes. His military experiences later inspired his first contes, or short fictional stories, published in "Coeur double". After completing his military service, Schwob returned to Paris. Schwob worked with Georges Guieysse and published "Etude sur l’argot français", focusing on the work of François Villon.
Beginning in 1890, Schwob worked with Auguste Longnon at the Archives Nationales, further researching Villon. He also began contributing articles, contes, and editorials to "Le Phare" and "L’Echo de Paris". Schwob published his first collection of contes in "Coeur double" (1891). In December 1891, Schwob began sending unsigned editorials, titled "Lettres Parisiennes" to his father for publication in "Le Phare de la Loire" and "Le Petit Phare". In 1892, Schwob published "Roi au masque d’or".
Following the death of his father in August 1892, Schwob’s older brother, Maurice, took over "Le Phare de la Loire". Schwob continued to write "Lettres Parisiennes" and send them to his brother for publication. In December 1893, Schwob was devastated by the death of a young prostitute named Louise, with whom he had a relationship. Louise inspired Schwob’s most well-known work "Le Livre de Monelle" (1894).
He became sick in 1894 with a chronic incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered from influenza or pneumonia and received intestinal surgery several times. In the last ten years of his life he seemed to have aged prematurely. His health was rapidly deteriorating, and in 1901 he travelled to Samoa in search of a cure. On his return to Paris, he lived the life of a recluse until his death in 1905. He died of pneumonia while his wife was away on tour.
Achievements
Marcel Schwob was well known and respected during his life. He is best known for his book "Le Livre de Montelle" (The Book of Montelle). When it was published in 1894, it immediately became the unofficial bible of the French Symbolist movement, admired by such contemporaries as Stéphane Mallarmé, Alfred Jarry and André Gide.
His literary works influenced such authors as Jorge Luis Borges, Roberto Bolaño, André Gide, William Faulkner, Jorge Luis Borges. He was also acquainted with a great number of intellectuals and authors of the time.
