Marie Cardinal (born Simone Odette Marie-Thérèse Cardinal; 9 March 1929 – 9 May 2001) was a French novelist and occasional actress.[1][2]

Marie Cardinal
BornSimone Odette Marie-Thérèse Cardinal
(1929-03-09)9 March 1929
French Algeria
Died9 May 2001(2001-05-09) (aged 72)
Valréas, France
OccupationNovelist
LanguageFrench
NationalityFrench
GenreLiterature

Life and career

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Cardinal was born in French Algeria and was the sister of the film director Pierre Cardinal. She graduated with a degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne and married the French playwright, actor and director Jean-Pierre Ronfard in 1953.[3] They had three children; Alice, Benoit, and Benedict. From 1953 to 1960, Cardinal taught philosophy at schools in Salonica, Lisbon, Vienna and Montreal.[3]

She published her debut novel, Écoutez la Mer (Listen to the Sea), in 1962. During the 1960s, she wrote three more novels and ventured into film, appearing in Jean-Luc Godard's Deux Ou Trois Choses Que Je Sais D'elle[3] and playing Mouchette's mother in Robert Bresson's film Mouchette.[4]

In 1972, Cardinal published La Clé Sur La Porte (The Key of the Door), followed by Les Mots Pour Le Dire (The Words to Say It) in 1975; these two novels were best sellers and established her reputation.[3] Les Mots Pour Le Dire also introduced Cardinal to English-speaking readers,[2] with Pat Goodheart's translation published in the United States in 1983 and in the United Kingdom the following year.

Bibliography

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  • Écoutez la mer (Listen to the Sea) (1962)
  • La mule de corbillard (1963)
  • La souricière (1965)
  • Cet été-là (1967)
  • La clé sur la porte (The Key of the Door) (1972)
  • Les Mots pour le dire (The Words to Say It) (1975)
  • Autrement dit (1977)
  • Une vie pour deux (1979)
  • Au Pays de mes racines (1980)
  • Le passé empiété (1983)
  • Les grands désordres (1987)
  • Les Pieds-Noirs (1988)
  • Comme si de rien n'était (1990)
  • Peer Gynt d'Henrik Ibsen (theater) (1991) translation
  • Les Troyennes d'Euripide (theater) (1993) translation
  • Les jeudis de Charles et Lula (1994)
  • Amour... Amours... (1998)
  • Oedipe à Colone de Sophocle (theater) (2003) translation

References

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  1. ^ Johnson, Douglas (17 May 2001). "Marie Cardinal: French writer with an early feminist voice in literature". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b McWhorter 1984
  3. ^ a b c d Johnson 2001
  4. ^ "Mouchette". IMDb. Retrieved 1 September 2014.

Further reading

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  • Marrone, Claire (Summer 2002), "The Limits of Writing in Marie Cardinal's Amour...amours", Dalhousie French Studies, 59, Dalhousie French Studies, Dalhousie University: 119–129, JSTOR 40837398
  • McWhorter, Diane (1 January 1984). "Recovering from Insanity". New York Times. Retrieved 1 September 2014. A review of The Words to Say It.
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