Louis Aragon(1897-1982)
- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Louis Aragon was born on October 3, 1897, in Paris, France. He
graduated from Lycée Carnot, then studied medicine in Sorbonne and
befriended a fellow medical student André Breton. In 1917 he was drafted in
the First World War and served in a military hospital. There he met
Guillaume Apollinaire and they became close friends. Together with Breton, Paul Éluard
and Philippe Soupault Aragon continued development of ideas of Surrealism which
were formulated by Guillaume Apollinaire. His evolution from Dada to Surrealism
finalized with the publication of 'Manifeste du Surréalisme' in 1924.
At that time he published 'Le Libertinage', a collection of short
stories and episodes pieced together in a Surrealist collage.
In 1927, after a two-year affair with flamboyant publisher Nancy
Cunard, heiress to the Cunard shipping money, Aragon wrote what was
later described by Albert Camus as "the best and most beautiful of erotic
texts", and later refused to publish it under his name. Aragon was then
at the peak of his radical opposition to old rules and joined the
French Communist party. At the same time he met Elsa Triolet, sister of
Russian actress Lilya Brik. In 1930 they traveled to the Soviet Union on
the invitation from Maxim Gorky. There they took part in the 1st conference
of Soviet writers. Under the influence of his wife and her friend
Vladimir Mayakovsky, Aragon published "The Red Front", calling for a revolution in
France, for which he received a five-year suspended sentence. At that
time Aragon together with 'Andre Malraux' founded the International Association
of Writers for the Defence of Culture. Aragon denounced the bourgeois
culture and was a critical opponent of André Gide. During the Second World
War Aragon wrote anti-fascist poetry under various pen-names for 'Les
Editions de Minuit' and 'Lettres Francaise', and was active in the
French Resistance.
In 1955 Aragon published an essay on the Soviet literature in which he
focused on non-Russian writers from ethnic republics of the USSR. In
1962 Aragon and André Maurois published their "Parallelled History" of the
Soviet Union and the United States. His mild attitude to Socialist
realism became more critical when Nikita Khrushchev was dismissed by Leonid Brezhnev. In
1971 he published a comprehensive biography of Henri Matisse. At that time,
after the death of his wife, Aragon revealed his bisexuality and
appeared at gay parades. He died on December 24, 1982, in Paris,
France.
graduated from Lycée Carnot, then studied medicine in Sorbonne and
befriended a fellow medical student André Breton. In 1917 he was drafted in
the First World War and served in a military hospital. There he met
Guillaume Apollinaire and they became close friends. Together with Breton, Paul Éluard
and Philippe Soupault Aragon continued development of ideas of Surrealism which
were formulated by Guillaume Apollinaire. His evolution from Dada to Surrealism
finalized with the publication of 'Manifeste du Surréalisme' in 1924.
At that time he published 'Le Libertinage', a collection of short
stories and episodes pieced together in a Surrealist collage.
In 1927, after a two-year affair with flamboyant publisher Nancy
Cunard, heiress to the Cunard shipping money, Aragon wrote what was
later described by Albert Camus as "the best and most beautiful of erotic
texts", and later refused to publish it under his name. Aragon was then
at the peak of his radical opposition to old rules and joined the
French Communist party. At the same time he met Elsa Triolet, sister of
Russian actress Lilya Brik. In 1930 they traveled to the Soviet Union on
the invitation from Maxim Gorky. There they took part in the 1st conference
of Soviet writers. Under the influence of his wife and her friend
Vladimir Mayakovsky, Aragon published "The Red Front", calling for a revolution in
France, for which he received a five-year suspended sentence. At that
time Aragon together with 'Andre Malraux' founded the International Association
of Writers for the Defence of Culture. Aragon denounced the bourgeois
culture and was a critical opponent of André Gide. During the Second World
War Aragon wrote anti-fascist poetry under various pen-names for 'Les
Editions de Minuit' and 'Lettres Francaise', and was active in the
French Resistance.
In 1955 Aragon published an essay on the Soviet literature in which he
focused on non-Russian writers from ethnic republics of the USSR. In
1962 Aragon and André Maurois published their "Parallelled History" of the
Soviet Union and the United States. His mild attitude to Socialist
realism became more critical when Nikita Khrushchev was dismissed by Leonid Brezhnev. In
1971 he published a comprehensive biography of Henri Matisse. At that time,
after the death of his wife, Aragon revealed his bisexuality and
appeared at gay parades. He died on December 24, 1982, in Paris,
France.