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Raymon RusselFrench writer.
Date of Birth: 20.01.1877
Country:  France |
Content:
- Raymond Roussel
- Literary Odyssey
- Epiphany and Mental Health
- Tragic End and Legacy
- Influence on Literature
- Selected Works
Raymond Roussel
Early Life and InspirationRaymond Roussel, a French writer, began his literary career by composing music and writing poetry to accompany it. After inheriting a substantial fortune upon his father's death in 1894, Roussel immersed himself in the Parisian high society, where he met Marcel Proust.
Literary Odyssey
From 1920 to 1921, Roussel embarked on a global expedition, visiting China and Tahiti. However, he remained secluded in his hotel rooms, focusing solely on writing without indulging in any tourist activities. Despite his efforts, none of his published or staged works achieved critical acclaim, with most books being financed by Roussel himself.
Epiphany and Mental Health
At the age of 19, while working on his verse novel "Sous-Off," Roussel experienced an epiphany. He suffered from acute mental distress, a case documented under the pseudonym Martial by psychiatrist Pierre Janet in his book "From Anguish to Ecstasy".
Tragic End and Legacy
In 1933, Roussel committed suicide in a hotel by ingesting a large dose of barbiturates. He was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery. According to Roussel's account in his posthumously published "How I Wrote Certain of My Books," his prose was built on the selection of similar-sounding words, creating a series of semantic equations that effectively abolished any connection between his vast verbal machine and reality.
Roussel's work was rediscovered by the surrealists, who were fascinated by his hypnotic prose. André Breton considered him "the greatest hypnotist of our time" and included his poetry, prose, and drama in his "Anthology of Black Humor." Other admirers included Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Georges Perec, and Julio Cortázar.
Influence on Literature
Roussel became a symbolic patron of the nouveau roman in France. His work has been the subject of books by Michel Foucault (1963) and Michel Leiris (1987), as well as Leonardo Sciascia's novel "The Papers of Raymond Roussel" (1971).
Selected Works
Mon Âme (1897, poem)La doublure (1897, verse novel)
La Seine (c. 1900, verse novel)
Les noces (c. 1904, verse novel)
Impressions d'Afrique (1910, novel)
Locus Solus (1914, novel)
Pages choisies d'Impressions d'Afrique et de Locus Solus (1918)
L'étoile au front (1925, drama)
La poussière de soleils (1927, drama)
Nouvelles impressions d'Afrique (1932)
Comment j'ai écrit certains de mes livres (1935, posthumous)
