Curelle, Francois de

Born into a wealthy aristocratic family from Lorraine. Viscount .

He was educated from the Jesuits of Metz and at the Technical Institute of Paris (French École Centrale Paris) with a degree in civil engineering . He had to take over the management of his father's metallurgical enterprise, but he preferred literature to family affairs.

In 1918 he was elected a member of the French Academy .

He made his debut as a prose writer, publishing in 1885 the novel “L'Été des fruits secs” and “Le Sauvetage du grand duc” (1889).

The first plays by F. de Kurel are “The Inside of the Saint”, “Fossils” (both staged in 1892 at the Free Theater , under the direction of A. Antoine ). over time, became one of the central figures of the Free Theater (French “Théâtre Libre”), created by Antoine as a forum for non-traditional dramatic art .

In most of his plays, the playwright analyzes the nature of man, in which, in his opinion, animal instincts and reason fight. The best plays of the playwright reveal the roots of the social, moral and psychological conflicts of his time: “The Holy Inside” (1892; tells of a woman embittered all over the world who destroys everything around her), “Fossils” (1892; about the extinction of a noble noble family), “ Guest ”(1893; about the eternal conflict of love and jealousy). Recognizing the official church , F. de Curelle at the same time is looking for a new religion in sacrificial love, heroism, science, the deification of science through the lives of ordinary people - “New Idol” (1899, Theater of Antoine ), and the play “Feast of the Lion” (1897 , Theater of Antoine , on the contradiction between labor and capital), in which, from the standpoint of the ideology of social Darwinism, it justifies the exploitation of workers). His plays are devoted to the topic of egoistic love and the destruction of human morality: “Love is lying” (1893, “ Comedy Frances ”), “Dance in front of the mirror” (1914, theater “Nouvel Ambigu Comique”).

The play by F. de Kurel about the war “Inhuman Land” (1922, “Théâtre Hébertot”), in which the natural feelings of heroes triumph over estate and national prejudices, was a success. He is the author of the play "Alive and Dead" (1925, Monte Carlo ) about the search for ways to revive a man spiritually crippled by war. A. V. Lunacharsky wrote:

“De Kurelle, belonging to the reactionary wing of society, nevertheless was a desperate paradoxist, made him seriously think about the strange and exciting formulation of big problems”

In contrast to the work of contemporaries, in “thesis plays” in which abstract ideas were preferred, the “French Ibsen, ” as F. de Kurel was then called, put emotion and action of his characters at the forefront.

Since 1906, F. de Kurel moved away from literature, and after returning to work in 1919 he managed to write only one successful play - the comedy Crazy Soul (1919), based on a comparison of human and animal emotions.

Other works: the novel Summer of Dried Fruits (1885), the comedy Figurant (1896), the drama Savage (1902, Theater of Antoine ) and Mystical Thunderstorm (1927).

theater

• The back of a saint , a play in 3 acts, Paris, Teatro Libre, January 25, 1892
• Les Fossiles , four-act play, Paris, Teatro Libre, November 29, 1892
• Guest , comedy in 3 acts, Paris, Vaudeville Theater, January 19, 1893
• Embroidered love , play in 3 acts, Paris, Comedy Frances, October 12, 1893
• Figurine , comedy in 3 acts, Paris, Renaissance Theater, March 5, 1896
• Leo's Food , performance in 5 acts, Paris, Theater of Antoine, November 26, 1897
• New Idol , performance in 3 acts, Paris, Theater of Antoine, February 8, 1899 Online text [archive]
• Wild Girl , performance in 6 acts, Paris, Theater of Antoine, February 17, 1902
• Le Coup d'aile , performance in 3 acts, Paris, Theater of Antoine, January 10, 1906
• Dance in front of the mirror , play in 2 acts, Paris, Nouvel Ambigou, January 17, 1914
• Comedy Genius , comedy in 3 acts and 8 scenes, 1918-1919
• Soul in Madness , Comedy Drama in 3 Acts, Paris, Theater of the Arts, December 23, 1919
• Biche au bois , fairytale vaudeville, 1920
• The whole theater: texts revised by the author, with the history of each work, followed by the memories of the author (6 volumes, 1920-1924). Online text 1 [archive] 2 [archive] 3 [archive] 5 [archive]] 6 [archive]
• “Fear of the Sage,” comedy in 3 acts, Paris, Comedy Frances, December 5, 1922
• Inhuman Earth , drama in 3 acts, Paris, Theater of Arts, December 13, 1922 (adaptation of Claude Autant-Lara in 1959 called Le Bois des amants)
• Viveuse and moribond , comedy in 3 acts, Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo Theater, December 29, 1925
• Mystical Storm , Three- Act Play, Paris, Art Theater, December 1 , 1927

different

• Dried Fruit Summer (1885)
• The Salvation of the Grand Duke (1889)
• Moon Solitaire (1909)
• A pathetic and living idea, selected thoughts (1912)
• Gaetan Orphanage (1927)
• Hunting is my great passion. Paris, Durel, 1949, 100 pages (from The History of the Soul in Madness, article published in Revue de Paris, February-March 1922).

• Streets in Metz and Cuen-sur-Sey , where he was buried in a family tomb at a local cemetery, are named after F. de Kurel.

• Theatrical Encyclopedia. Volume 3 / Chap. ed. P. A. Markov - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1964.
• Lunacharsky A.V., On Theater and Drama, vol. 2, M., 1958

• Biography (Fr.)