Lanoux, Armand

Lanoux, Armand 

Born Oct. 24, 1913, in Paris. French writer.

Lanoux made his literary debut with the detective novel The Murdered Canadian in 1943. His most mature work is the novel trilogy Mad Greta: Commander Watrin (1956; Russian translation, 1957), Meeting in Bruges (1958), and When the Sea Goes Out (1963; Russian translation 1965; Prix Goncourt). The novels are united by the theme of the folly of the world, manifested in psychological illness (Meeting in Bruges) and in social monstrosities like war and fascism (Commander Watrin). In When the Sea Goes Out the antiwar theme grows into an antifascist theme.

Lanoux’s aesthetics are linked to the best traditions of French naturalism. His interest in 19th-century writers is seen in Bonjour, Emile Zola (1954; Russian translation, 1966) and Maupassant (1967; Russian translation, 1971). Cannon Polka (1971) and The Red Rooster (1972) are devoted to the history of the Paris Commune of 1871. Lanoux maintains a naturalistic style throughout his essays “The Physiology of Paris” (1954) and “Love in the 1890’s” (1961): the ironic sketches of landscapes and everyday life contain a harsh criticism of bourgeois society. Lanoux has also published the verse collections Delivery Man (1952) and Pictures of Epinale (1969) and the play The Man in the Tuxedo.

WORKS

Le Violon dans le feu. Paris, 1967.

REFERENCES

Evnina, E. M. Sovremennyi frantsuzskii roman: 1940–1960. Moscow, 1962. (Bibliography.)
Puzikov, A. I. Portrety frantsuzskikh pisatelei. [Moscow, 1967.]
Wurmser, A. “Si la Commune m’était contée ….” Les Lettres françaises, May 12–18, 1971, no. 1385, p. 8. L.A. ZONINA