Aymé, Marcel (märsĕl` āmā`), 1902–67, French writer. Aymé's La Table aux crevés (1929), a story of peasant life, typifies the satirical tone of his works. La Jument verte (1933, tr. The Green Mare, 1955) and Les Tiroirs de l'inconnu (1960, tr. The Conscience of Love, 1962) contain elements of fantasy and biting commentary on modern values. Aymé wrote several superb volumes of tales for children, including Les Contes du chat perché (1934, tr. The Wonderful Farm, 1951). Among his plays are Clérambard (1949, tr. 1952) and La Tête des autres (1952). Two collections of his short stories are Across Paris (tr. 1958) and The Proverb (tr. 1961).

Aymé, Marcel

(born March 29, 1902, Joigny, Fr.—died Oct. 14, 1967, Paris) French novelist, essayist, and playwright. His novels include The Hollow Field (1929), The Fable and the Flesh (1943), and The Transient Hour (1946). He delighted a vast public with witty tales of talking farm animals (reflecting his own farm upbringing), some of which were published in English as The Wonderful Farm (1951). Though his extravagant creations mingling fantasy and reality were long dismissed as minor, he was belatedly recognized as a master of light irony and storytelling.