Background
Barjavel was born in Nyons, Rhone-Alpes, France on January 24, 1911. He was the son of Henri and Marie (Paget) Barjavel.
journalist novelist screenwriter writer
Barjavel was born in Nyons, Rhone-Alpes, France on January 24, 1911. He was the son of Henri and Marie (Paget) Barjavel.
Barjavel had a Diploma from Colleges de Nyons et de Cusset.
Barjavel became a teacher in Cusset, France in 1928. He was employed by a bank in Vichy, France, just a year later. He worked as a journalist on the Progrès de l'Ailier, in Moulins, France, from 1930 till 1935. Barjavel was also affiliated with Editions Denoel, for 9 years from 1935. Simultaneously, he served as a film critic at the Merle Blanc, for a year from 1938.
He held the positions of a founder and director of l’Echo des etudiants, in Montpellier, France from 1940 until 1941. In addition, Barjavel was a drama critic for Carrefour, from 1947 to 1950, as well as a television critic of the Radio-Luxembourg. He was a contributor to Journal du dimanche, for long 13 years from 1968.
Among being a screenwriter, journalist, and author of romantic novels, Rene Barjavel also published several science fiction novels noted for their criticism of technological society and despairing views on humanity’s future. Some of these were translated into English during the 1960s and 1970s. Barjavel’s pessimism is encapsulated in an epigraph that prefaces an early, untranslated novel about a future war, Le Diable I’emporte (“The Devil Takes All”), which reads, “To our grandfathers and grandchildren, the cavemen”.
In Ravage (1943), translated as Ashes, Ashes (1967), a world utterly dependent on technology is driven mad when changes in the sun cause fires that burn up the landscape and destroy humanity’s ability to produce electricity.
The world of Ashes, Ashes reappears in Le Voyageur imprudent (1944), a novel about time travel translated as Future Times Three (1970).
The baneful consequences of technology also lie at the heart of La Nuit des temps (1968), translated as The Ice People (1970).
In Le Grand Secret (1973), translated as The Immortals (1974), a scientist discovers a highly contagious virus that confers immortality.
Barjavel married Madeleine de Wattripont, on October 10, 1935. They had 2 children - Renee and Jean.