Vailland, Roger

(1907-1965)

   writer

   Born in Acy-en-Multien, Oise, Roger Vailland, with others, was a founder of the revue Le grand Jeu (1928), in which they launched a revolt similar to that of surrealism. Vailland began as a journalist and later served in the resistance (1942) while beginning his career as a writer (Drôle de jeu, 1945) and also entered politics as a member of the French CoMMUNIST party (1952). Writings from this period include Bon pied, bon œil (1950), Beau masque (1954), and 325,000francs (1955). In publishing Esquisses pour un portrait du vrai libertin (1946), Le Mauvais Coups (1948), and Laclos par lui-même (1953), Vailland showed his attachment to one of his major themes, libertinage, and his rejection of moral and religious constraints in a quest for absolute freedom. This attempt to reconcile individual revolt and revolutionary action brought him disillusionment after the publication of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's report on Stalinism in 1956. Thereafter, Vailland distanced himself from the world, spending his time in travel or often in bitter meditation on the futility of commitment. in this last period, he produced Éloge du cardinal de Bernis (1956), La Loi (prix Goncourt, 1957), La Fête (1960), and La Truite (1964). The publication of Écrits intimes (1968) brought to light a new side to his personality, especially through the protagonists and their lucidity and strength of character, often evoking those of pierre laclos and stendhal.