Many-faced hoaxer Boris Vian

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It was truly a man-orchestra, reaching out to everything unknown. This is the creator of novels, poems, an actor playing the trumpet. A man of complex fate became a classic of French literature only after his death.

Fatal Hoax

There were rumors about the Russian roots of the writer, but few knew that this legend was launched by Boris Vian himself. And the Russian name was given to him by his mother, who adored the opera Boris Godunov. There were 24 pseudonyms in his piggy bank, among which Vernon Sullivan is the most famous and scandalous.

His alter ego, according to legend, is an African American, whose free views became an obstacle to the press in his homeland, and Vian helped translate novels in the noir style. At that time, adventurous works with bloody and sexual details were popular. Four novels came out from his pen, one of which, “I will come to spit on your graves,” was a top seller for a long time. The fatal bestseller was even burned by morality fighters. The scandal after the discovery of the true author gained such momentum that Vian was tried. Then they were acquitted, but he was put an end to his writing career. The works that came out from under his pen, notwere accepted by society, which caused suffering to talent. And until the last day he was remembered as a hoaxer, who for a long time led the venerable public by the nose. The fatal work ruined not only his reputation, but also himself. Boris Vian died at the premiere of a film adaptation he did not give permission for, of a heart attack at the age of 39.

Tragedy of talent

Only after his death did the writer become famous: his books are read with pleasure by the youth of Europe, and in France they are studied in school curricula. This was the tragedy of a talented master. In the novel Foam of Days, Boris Vian described his life philosophy. Reviews of his main work were contradictory, and intellectual prose did not enjoy a resounding success, like pulp fiction. It is a pity that Vian and Sullivan are often confused. The gifted author only adjusted to the general mood of the public, releasing deliberately vulgar novels and drowning out the pain inside.

"Foam of days" balances on the verge between absurdity and reality thanks to the author's special attitude. In the writer's fantasies, life conquers death, and love opposes gray everyday life. He was interested in the happiness of the individual, not the crowd. Contemporaries called the book "the most poignant love story." The reader is confronted with amazing sincerity, pain and suffering.

Boris Vian: biography

The future classic was born in 1920 in a small town near Paris. Angina, suffered by Boris at the age of two, caused heart complications. Doctors predicted the boy a shortlife. At the age of 15, he contracted typhoid fever, which further undermined his he alth.

His father did not work, but received income from invested capital. He was a very educated man who read a lot and knew several languages. Mother played the piano and harp beautifully, adored music and instilled this love in her little son. When the boy was 9 years old, the country was overtaken by a crisis, and the measured comfortable existence came to an end. In order to somehow save their financial situation, the family rents out their villa and dismisses the servants. The father translates texts and sells homeopathic remedies, but this does not bring much money. After his murder by robbers in 1944, the estate goes under the hammer, and the family moves to a rented apartment. Before leaving, Boris Vian plays a farewell trumpet solo.

Three years before the sad event, a young man marries Michelle Legliz, but the mother does not approve of the choice of the bride and even dissuades her from the honeymoon. In the family, according to a long tradition, women did not work, but there was not enough money, and Michelle gets a job in a magazine. In 1942, the couple's son, Patrick, is born.

Boris Vian spends the last years of his life with his new wife, ballerina Ursula Kübler. The photo where they are captured together is surprisingly tender and touching.

Jazz life

Vian's main passion in life is jazz, which he studied on his own. Boris and his two brothers organize a family orchestra, and then become a member of the popular ensemble of Claude Abadie. The musicians enjoyedimprovisations and did not play to order. Despite the prohibition of doctors, Vian does not give up his passion for music and plays the trumpet with great skill. The ensemble receives recognition in 1946 at a tournament in Paris, where it won the Grand Prix.

In the 50s, Vian performed as a chansonnier and left a rich legacy: 400 songs and several records.

Multiple Master

Boris Vian, as an addicted person, tried himself in different fields. He painted pictures that he signed with an anagram of his own name - Bizon Ravi (enthusiastic bison). After learning English, he translated detective stories and science fiction. Especially for Boris, a section was created in the popular Tan Modern magazine in which he shared fictitious events with a clear hint of modern realities. He hosted radio programs, acted in films, and in the film "A Beautiful Age" he played himself with pleasure.

The funeral of the writer took place on June 27, 1959. Relatives, Ursula with a bouquet of bloody roses, crowds of admirers and not a single gravedigger. Later it turned out that they were on strike that day.