Giraudoux, Jean

(1882-1944)

   writer, diplomat

   Born in Bellac, Jean Giraudox, whose impressionistic style of writing helped to change the canons of realism in the French theater, studied in Paris and Munich, Germany. in 1910, he entered the foreign service, became director of information (1929), a post he also held under the vichy regime. His early novels brought him literary acclaim and show his imagination and humor (Simon le Pathétique, 1918; Siegfried et le Limousin, 1922; Bella, 1925; Combat avec l'ange, 1934; Choix des élus, 1939). In his works, he expressed a humanistic optimism, but a sense of the tragic too (Siegfried, 1928; Amphitryon 38, 1929; Judith, 1931; Intermezzo, 1939). One can trace the evolution to a mood of uneasiness (La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, 1935) and to pathos (Electre, 1937; Ondine, 1939), and even despair (Sodome et Gomor-rhe, 1943). A satirical and prolific writer, Giraudoux presents his views of an uncertain and disenchanted era in his essay Pleins pouvoirs.