novelist – Page 3 – Who Knew Whom

André Breton

1896 (Tinchebray, France) – 1966 (Paris)

Apollinaire was a formative influence, as was Vaché. Breton founded ‘Littérature’ with Soupault and Aragon, who along with Éluard, Crevel, Artaud, Leiris, Péret and Desnos congregated around him in surrealism’s early days. He’d known and admired Valéry while quite young, and visited Freud in Vienna. Apollinaire introduced him to de Chirico, Picasso and others; these two plus Miró, Masson, Ernst and Tanguy were included by Breton in the first surrealist painting exhibition. He met Lévi-Strauss on a boat to Martinique (where he met Césaire). Ernst and Duchamp accompanied him to the U.S. during WWII; he met Lam in New York.

André Breton knew…

Charles Dickens

novelist, journalist

1812 (Landport, England) – 1870 (Rochester)

Dickens worked with the illustrators Browne (‘Phiz’) and Cruikshank, and first met Thackeray when he applied unsuccessfully for similar work. He supposedly based the character Uriah Heep on Andersen, denied basing the unpleasant Skimpole on Leigh Hunt (for whom he helped organise a pension), and dedicated Hard Times to Carlyle. He toured Italy with Collins. In America he took snuff from Allston, celebrated Thanksgiving with Longfellow, shared Irving’s concern for proper copyright laws, and also befriended Emerson and Poe, whose poem ‘The Raven’ was inspired by Dickens’ pet raven Grip.

Cesare Pavese

novelist, poet

1908 (Santo Stefano Belbo, Italy) – 1950 (Turin)

Ginzburg was a fellow-pupil at a high-school in Turin with an impressive record for nurturing intellectuals and anti-fascists who contributed to post-WWII democracy in Italy. Both Levi and Calvino met Pavese through being employed at the publisher Einaudi (co-founded by Ginzburg); he befriended and helped introduce the younger Calvino to leftist politics.

Cesare Pavese knew…

Boris Vian

poet, novelist, musician

1920 (Ville d'Avray, France) – 1959 (Paris)

Camus, Sartre and Queneau met up with Vian in post-war Paris jazz clubs because of his friendships with American musicians (he preferred Sartre’s joviality to Camus’ sullenness). Davis and Ellington (a good friend) used him to liaise for them. He introduced Parker to Sartre, and collaborated with Milhaud on an opera. Prévert was a neighbour, Malle a friend, while Gréco (for whom he wrote songs, and introduced to Davis) called him her “incestuous brother”. He was a regular at Duras’ literary discussions, worked for Barclay, and formed a production company with his friend Queneau and his biographer Arnaud.

Blaise Cendrars

poet, novelist

1887 (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) – 1961 (Paris)

He worked as an assistant to Gance, helped Chagall find titles for his paintings, had his portrait painted by Modigliani, and strongly influenced Dos Passos, who translated his work into English. Milhaud composed for him (Léger did the sets), Braque decorated his car, and Sonia Delaunay, a lifelong friend, illustrated a celebrated piece of work. He drunk champagne with Stravinsky and Diaghilev after a woman broke a theatre seat over his head. Varèse, Desnos, Metzinger, Miller and Hemingway were also good friends. Satie, Auric and sometimes Jacob ate bouillabaisse together with him every Friday.