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Marcel Aymé in 1929

Marcel Aymé's grave. Cimetière Saint-Vincent, Paris.

Marcel Aymé (29 March 1902 – 14 October 1967) was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer, screenwriter and theatre playwright.

Biography

Marcel Aymé was born in Joigny, in the Yonne department of Burgundy. He was educated at the Collège de Dole, then worked as a journalist in Paris, among other things. His first published novel was Brûlebois (1926), and in 1929 his La Table aux crevés won the Prix Renaudot. After the great success of his novel La Jument verte (1933), translated into English as The Green Mare, he concentrated mostly on writing and published children's stories, novels, and collections of stories. In 1935 he also started writing movie scripts. In theater, Marcel Aymé found success with his plays Lucienne et le boucher, Clérambard (1949), a farce, and Tête des autres (1952), which criticized the death penalty.

He died in 1967 and was buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.

Work

One of Aymé's most famous short stories is "Le Passe-Muraille" or "The Walker-Through-Walls". A statue in Paris features the story's main character, Dutilleul. At the age of 42, Dutilleul suddenly discovers that he has "the remarkable gift of being able to pass through walls with perfect ease". What begins as a novelty that gives him pleasure ends up pushing Dutilleul toward ever more sinister pursuits.

Novels and short stories

• 
  Les Jumeaux du diable (1928)


• 
  La Table aux crevés (1929) novel translated as The Hollow Field
  


• 
  Brûlebois (1930)


• 
  La Rue sans nom (1930)


• 
  Le Vaurien (1931)


• 
  Le Puits aux images (1932)


• 
  La Jument verte (1933) novel translated as The Green Mare
  


• 
  Maison basse (1934) novel translated as The House of Men
  


• 
  Le Nain (1934)


• 
  Le Moulin de la Sourdine (1936) novel translated as The Secret Stream
  


• 
  Derrière chez Martin (1936)


• 
  Silhouette du scandale (1938)


• 
  Gustalin (1938)


• 
  Le Bœuf clandestine (1939)


• 
  La Belle image (1941) novel translated as The Second Face and Beautiful Image
  


• 
  La Vouivre (1941)


• 
  Travelingue (1941) novel translated as The Miraculous Barber
  


• 
  Le passe-muraille (1943) short story translated as The Man Who Walked through Walls (Pushkin Press, 2012). Also adapted into the musical Amour by Michel Legrand, the feature films Mr. Peek-a-Boo (1951) and The Man Who Walked Through the Wall (1959), and the TV movies Le passe-muraille (fr) (1977)^[1] and Le passe-muraille (2016)^[2]


• 
  Le Chemin des écoliers (1946) novel translated as The Transient Hour
  


• 
  Le Vin de Paris (1947) adapted into a film (1956)


• 
  Uranus (1948) novel translated as The Barkeep of Blémont
  


• 
  Les Bottes de sept lieues (1950)


• 
  En arrière (1950)


• 
  Les Contes du chat perché (1934-1946) translated as The Magic Pictures and The Wonderful Farm
  


• 
  Les Tiroirs de l'inconnu (1960)


• 
  Enjambées (1967)


• 
  La fille du shérif (1987) posthumous collection of short stories, compiled by Michel Lecureur

Theatrical plays

• 
  Lucienne and the Butcher (Lucienne et le boucher) (1948)


• 
  Clérambard (1950)


• 
  Vogue la galère (1951), adapted into a film in 1973


• 
  Other People's Heads (La tête des autres) (1952)


• 
  Les quatre vérités (1954)


• 
  The Salem Witches (Les sorcières de Salem) (1954), adapted from The Crucible by Arthur Miller


• 
  The Moon Birds (Les oiseaux de lune) (1955)


• 
  The Blue Fly (La mouche bleue) (1957)


• 
  Vu du pont (1957)


• 
  Louisiane (1961)


• 
  The Maxibules (Les Maxibules) (1961)


• 
  La consommation (1963)


• 
  The Wall Cupboard (Le placard) (1963)


• 
  The Night of the Iguana (La nuit de l'iguane), adapted from The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams (1965)


• 
  The Belzébir Convention (La convention Belzébir) (1966)


• 
  Le minotaure (1967)

Legacy

His works have inspired a number of movies, television shows, songs and comic strips.

Visitors to Paris can see a monument in his honor at Place Marcel-Aymé, in the Montmartre Quarter. The statue is based upon his short story "Le passe-muraille" ("The Walker through Walls").

Filmography

• 
  Street Without a Name, directed by Pierre Chenal (1934, based on the novel La Rue sans nom)


• 
  Mr. Peek-a-Boo, directed by Jean Boyer (1951, based on the short story The passer-through-walls)


• 
  The Beautiful Image, directed by Claude Heymann (1951, based on the novel La Belle image)


• 
  La Table aux crevés (fr), directed by Henri Verneuil (1951, based on the novel The Hollow Field)


• 
  La Traversée de Paris, directed by Claude Autant-Lara (1956, based on the short story Traversée de Paris)


• 
  Way of Youth, directed by Michel Boisrond (1959, based on the novel Le Chemin des écoliers)


• 
  The Man Who Walked Through the Wall, directed by Ladislao Vajda (West Germany, 1959, based on the short story The passer-through-walls)


• 
  The Green Mare, directed by Claude Autant-Lara (1959, based on the novel The Green Mare)


• 
  Le Nain (fr), directed by Pierre Badel (fr) (1961, TV film, based on the short story Le Nain)


• 
  La Bonne Peinture (fr), directed by Philippe Agostini (1967, TV film, based on the short story La Bonne Peinture)


• 
  Le Boeuf clandestin (fr), directed by Jacques Pierre (1969, TV film, based on the novel Le Boeuf clandestin)


• 
  Clérambard, directed by Yves Robert (1969, based on the play Clérambard)


• 
  Vogue la galère, directed by Raymond Rouleau (1973, based on the play Vogue la galère)


• 
  Le Passe-muraille (fr), directed by Pierre Tchernia (1977, TV film, based on the short story The passer-through-walls)


• 
  La Grâce (fr), directed by Pierre Tchernia (1979, TV film, based on the short story La Grâce)


• 
  La Vouivre (fr), directed by Georges Wilson (1989, based on the novel La Vouivre)


• 
  Uranus, directed by Claude Berri (1990, based on the novel Uranus)


• 
  Les Bottes de sept lieues (fr), directed by Hervé Baslé (fr) (1990, TV film, based on the short story Les Bottes de sept lieues)


• 
  L'Huissier (fr), directed by Pierre Tchernia (1991, TV film, based on the short story L'Huissier)


• 
  The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish, directed by Ben Lewin (1991, based on the short story Rue Saint-Sulpice)


• 
  Les jours où je n'existe pas (fr), directed by Jean-Charles Fitoussi (fr) (2002, based on the short story Le Temps mort)


• 
  Le Boeuf clandestin (fr), directed by Gérard Jourd'hui (fr) (2013, TV film, based on the novel Le Boeuf clandestin)


• 
  Le Passe-muraille (fr), directed by Dante Desarthe (fr) (2016, TV film, based on the short story The passer-through-walls)

Screenwriter

• 
  Crime and Punishment (dir. Pierre Chenal, 1935)


• 
  The Green Domino (dir. Herbert Selpin and Henri Decoin, 1935)


• 
  Les mutinés de l'Elseneur (dir. Pierre Chenal, 1936)


• 
  Nous les gosses (fr) (dir. Louis Daquin, 1941)


• 
  Le Club des soupirants (fr) (dir. Maurice Gleize, 1941)


• 
  Traveler on All Saints' Day (dir. Louis Daquin, 1943)


• 
  Madame et le Mort (fr) (dir. Louis Daquin, 1943)


• 
  Papa, Mama, the Maid and I (dir. Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1954)


• 
  Papa, maman, ma femme et moi (dir. Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1955)


• 
  Your Money or Your Life (dir. Jean-Pierre Mocky, 1966)

See also

• List of French writers

References

External links

• 
  PushkinPress.com English editions of works by the author


• 
  Le roman selon les romanciers: bibliographie critique de l'Université McGill (French) Inventory and analysis of Marcel Aymé's non-novelistic writings about the novel


• 
  Marcel Aymé on IMDb


• Link to several short stories by Marcel Ayme including The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls or Le Passe-Muraille
  


• 
  Marcel Aymé at Find a Grave
  


• 
  About Marcel Aymé (personal web site)