Boris Vian
Boris Vian (March 10, 1920 - June 23, 1959) was a French writer, poet, singer, musician.
Boris Vian was born in Ville-d'Avray, near Paris, France. Educated at the Ecole Centrale Paris.
He wrote 10 novels including some mass-market sex-and-violence thrillers under the pseudonym of Vernon Sullivan, all of which caused a scandal in France upon publication. Under his own name he published L'Arrache Coeur (Heartsnatcher), L'Herbe Rouge, and what critics regard as his masterpiece, L'Ecume des Jours. L'Ecume des Jours has appeared in English translation several times. Stanley Chapman's translation Froth on the Daydream is generally regarded as the most accomplished.
He was also the author of plays, short stories and songs, including a 1958 collaboration on the opera "Fiesta" with Darius Milhaud. He often played jazz at the "Tabou", a club (now disappeared), which was located in the Rue Dauphine, close to Saint-Germain des PrÃÂés, in Paris. He was playing a pocket trumpet, which he called "trompinette" in some of his poems. His most famous song was "Le dÃÂéserteur", a pacifist song written during the Indochina War. Of his many texts, he himself recorded a good number of them. Most of the rest were recorded by other artists, among them Juliette GrÃÂéco, Nana Mouskouri, Yves Montand, Magali Noel, and Henri Salvador. Serge Gainsbourg said that it was seeing Boris Vian on stage that made him decide to try his hand at songwriting.
A jazz enthusiast, he served as liaison for, among others, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in Paris. He also mounted several Jazz publications (Jazz Hot, Paris Jazz) and published numerous articles dealing with Jazz both in America and France. Though he never put a foot on American soil, the themes of both jazz and America run thick in his work.
On the morning of June 23, 1959, Boris Vian was at the Cinema Marbeuf for the screening of the film version of his controversial novel, J'irai cracher sur vos tombes (I Spit On Your Graves). He had already fought with the producers over their interpretation of his work and he publicly denounced the film stating he wished to have his name removed from the credits. A few minutes after the film began, he reportedly blurted out: "These guys are supposed to be American? My ass!" He then collapsed into his seat and died of a heart attack en route to the hospital.