Marius-Are Leblond ( fr. Marius-Ary Leblond ) is a collective literary pseudonym written by Georges Athén ( fr. Georges Athénas , February 26, 1877, Saint-Denis (Reunion) - May 8, 1953, Paris, France) and Aime Merlot ( Fr. Aimé Merlo , July 30, 1880, Saint-Denis - April 7, 1958, Reunion) - French writers, journalists and art historians, laureates of the 1909 Goncourt Prize for the novel "In France".
Born in Saint-Denis on the French colony of Reunion . In 1898, they both went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. There, cousin Georges, the reunion poet Leon Dierks , introduced them to literary circles and introduced the writers Jose-Maria de Heredia , Sully-Prud , Francois Coppe and others.
Young writers took as a model writers a naturalistic bias and were fond of the work of both Roni , with whom Georges was familiar. At the end of the century, they wrote their first novel under the influence of Maupassant - “Marie la Boule”. Under the name Zezer, it was published in 1903 .
In 1900, Emé, due to lung disease, moved to Algeria for a healthy climate. Following him, Georges left. Impressions of life in this French colony were subsequently reflected in the novel “In France” (En France). In 1907, Wadi was published. This work, which shows the relationship between the French colonialists and the colonized Algerians, can be considered their first "colonial novel."
In 1900, Georges and Aimes founded their first magazine, “Grand France” ( La Grande France ), which was published until 1903 . Marked by the spirit of colonialism, he first of all had the goal of opposing the moral greatness of France in its overseas possessions and the banal desire of Britain for colonial expansion. Already in the very name of the magazine the parallel “La Grande France - La Grande Brétagne” was felt [1] .
From 1912 to 1952, the magazine La Vie was published instead of this magazine. Without abandoning the program announced in Greater France, he touched on a wide range of issues in science, architecture, medicine, literature, sports, international politics, and especially art. The magazine published reproductions of works by contemporary artists and critical articles on art, the authors of which were, in addition to Georges and Aimes, Paul Claudel , Francis Jamm , Paul and Victor Margheritt , younger and older brothers Roni, Paul Adan , Camille Mokler, Alfons de Chateaubriand , Leon Ennik, Rene Gil , Gustave Kahn , Sully-Prudom , Felix Feneon , Maurice Denis , Paul Valerie and others. Georges and Aimee themselves published in their and other journals, according to Catherine Fournier, over eight hundred [1] articles, mostly literary and critical.
In 1914 - 1916, Georges Athena worked as secretary of the French Minister of Defense - Marshal Joseph Gallieni , who was called the "Savior of Paris". On the material of this service a memoir is written "Gallieni speaks."
The fiction legacy of these two co-authors consists of twenty novels, collections of short stories, fairy tales and travel notes. Subjects related to Reunion, Madagascar, as well as to the outstanding Reunion writer - Leconte de Lille predominate .
Georges and Aimes formulated the theoretical foundations of the so-called colonial novel, contrasting their realism with the exoticism of Pierre Loti . In 1926, they wrote a kind of manifesto, “After Exotism, Loti is a colonial novel.” Using this genre, writers want to interest the French reader in bringing people of different races — the inhabitants of the colonies — closer to each other through the development of their cultural identity. According to the authors, imperial rule gives France the opportunity to assert its power and the superiority of its civilization, and the novel also allows emphasizing the identity of the colonial peoples [2] .
First of all, thanks to both of them, on August 25, 1911 in Saint-Denis, in the former residence of the bishop, the second museum institution in the history of Reunion was opened - the Museum of Art. November 12, 1912 it is named after Leon Dierks .
Prizes and Awards
In 1903, Georges and Aimee applied for the Goncourt Prize , submitting for consideration the novel Zezer, which they wanted to “encourage the European public to love black people.” But neither with this work, nor two years later with the book “Witchcraft”, nor with “Sarabanda” they were able to get this award, although they were supported by such authorities as the Roni brothers, and in the open poll organized by La Presseza magazine, for these two Reunionists were expressed by a wide circle of readers.
But in 1906, cousins from the French Academy received their first literary prize for the "Big Island of Madagascar" - a well-illustrated book about the regions, races, beliefs and resources of this then French colony. In 1909 , with the support of Margheritt, de Bourget and Roni, the co-authors did receive the Goncourt Prize for the novel "In France", which describes the history of the life of a Creole student. The following year, they were awarded the Literary Criticism Prize (Prix de la Critique Littéraire) for the didactic book, The Ideal of the Nineteenth Century. In 1932, they unanimously awarded the annual “Grand Prix Lasserre”, which the Ministry of Education gives on the advice of a commission of writers of various directions.
For the second time, in 1937 , the French Academy awarded the writers the Grand Prize of the French Academy (Grand Prix de l'Académie Française) for another historical work that they wrote for ten years - Vercingetorig . Before that, he received favorable reviews in the press. And in 1943, the Academy awarded them for the third time - the “Grand Prize of the Empire” (Grand Prix de l'Empire) for all their literary contributions. In addition, writers who also distinguished themselves in the patriotic and social spheres were honored with awards from the Third and Fourth Republics.
Of the writers' duet, Georges was the first, as a member of the Higher Council for Education in the Colonies, to receive the Legion of Honor - from Minister Simon.
On the occasion of the centenary of the West Indies (this is connected with the writing of “Beautiful and proud Antilles”), at the request of the Senator from Guadeloupe, the writers were awarded a tie of the Legion of Honor (la cravate de la Légion d'honneur).
In addition, Georges and Aimee were awarded the title of nobility and became knights of the Grand Cross of the National Order of Portugal, the Orders of Poland, Ethiopia and Cambodia.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Norbert Dodille. Les nouvelles malgaches de Marius-Ary Leblond (link not available)
- ↑ Le journal réunionnais du monde
Links
- Norbert Dodille Les nouvelles malgaches de Marius-Ary Leblond (link not available)
- Le journal réunionnais du monde newspaper website ( copy )
- Clicanoo Newspaper Website (link unavailable)