- Queneau, Raymond
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born Feb. 21, 1903, Le Havre, Francedied Oct. 25, 1976, ParisFrench author.After working as a reporter, he became a reader for the prestigious Encyclopédie de la Pléiade, a scholarly edition of past and present classical authors; by 1955 he was its director. Verbal play, black humour, pessimism, and a derisive posture toward authority appear often in his more than 30 works of prose and poetry, which include the novels Zazie dans le métro (1959; film, 1960), perhaps his best-known work, and The Blue Flowers (1965).
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▪ French authorborn Feb. 21, 1903, Le Havre, Francedied Oct. 25, 1976, ParisFrench author who produced some of the most important prose and poetry of the mid-20th century.After working as a reporter for L'Intransigeant (1936–38), Queneau became a reader for the prestigious Encyclopédie de la Pléiade, a scholarly edition of past and present classical authors, and by 1955 was its director.From Queneau's Surrealist period in the 1920s he retained a taste for verbal juggling, a tendency toward black humour, and a derisive posture toward authority. His puns, sneers, spelling extravaganzas, and other linguistic contortions concealed a total pessimism, an obsession with death. His corrosive laughter rang out in the seemingly light verse of his childhood reminiscences in Chêne et chien (1937; “Oak and Dog”), a novel in verse, and in more philosophical poems: Les Ziaux (1943), Petite Cosmogonie portative (1950; “A Pocket Cosmogony”), and Si tu t'imagines (1952; “If You Imagine”).The pattern of his novels was similar: from a familiar setting—a suburb, an amusement park, or a Paris subway—emerged the vision of an absurd world. Such is the format of Le Chiendent (1933; The Bark Tree); Zazie dans le métro (1959; Zazie), probably his best-known work (filmed 1960); Les Fleurs bleues (1965; The Blue Flowers); and Le Vol d'Icare (1968; The Flight of Icarus). These chronicles of simple people are recounted in language that ranges from everyday slang to the loftiest poetic diction.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
