Boileau-Narsejak: creative tandem of French writers. Pierre Boileau and Toma Narsejak. The best works

Behind the creative duet, over forty years, surprising readers with their detectives, two French writers are hiding : Pierre Boileau and Pierre Robert Hérault. How did their tandem? Did both writers work on parity rights? What are their main works? What of their work is translated into Russian? What films based on the motives of the detectives of Boileau-Narsejak released on the screens? What books are digitized and laid out in free virtual libraries? Read all about this in this article.

Biography of Pierre Louis Boileau

The future writer was born in Paris on April 28, 1909. He received a good education and at first engaged in commerce. Several years he worked in a factory that produces felt products. Then I tried the pen. His literary debut took place in 1932. The magazine "Reading for All" published a series of stories connected together by one main character - detective Andre Brunel. The talent of the young writer was favorably appraised by critics.

In 1934, Boileau leads Detective Brunel already on the pages of the novel "The Shivering Pierre". In the same year he wrote the story "Walk at midnight". Unfortunately, the translation into Russian of this work did not take place. In 1938, in the 252nd edition of Le Masque, the fourth work of Pierre Boileau was published - "Rest of Bacchus". For this work the author was awarded a prize in the French competition of adventure novels.

Personal life

After receiving a cash prize, the novice author bought an apartment in Paris and dared to make an offer of an arm and heart to a young secretary who worked at the editorial office of the magazine where Boileau was published. The personal life of the writer is not as stormy as the plots of his novels. He lived happily with his wife until his death. And he did not intend to change the apartment either, but moved off it only in 1982, when the doctors prescribed a marine climate for him

. When the prize was spent, Boileau worked as an administrator in a cabaret owned by his cousin.

In the first days of World War II he was drafted into the army. The company in which Pierre Boileau served served in 1940 was surrounded, and the writer landed in the camp for prisoners of war. Two years later, he fell seriously ill, and on the petition of the Red Cross he was released. In Paris, Boileau was cured and, in turn, began to support other victims of the war in the charitable organization "National Aid".

After the war, the writer returned to literary activity. By the end of the forties he became the most famous author, who creates in the genre of a police novel.

Biography of Pierre Robert Herault

Unlike the Parisian Boileau, the second member of the creative tandem was born in the province, in the small town of Rochefort-sur-Mer on the coast of Charente, near its confluence into the Bay of Biscay. The writer saw the light of July 3, 1908. To create detective stories he became later than his colleague in the tandem. At first, Ero was interested in philosophy. He graduated from college and until the end of the fortieth years he worked as a professor at the department of the university. But he also wrote adventure novels, parodies of American detectives. At the same time he took a creative pseudonym of Tom Narsezhak.

Among the philosophical works of Hérault also published a work called "Aesthetics of the Detective Genre." This book, published in 1947, contained criticism of the literary works of the now famous Pierre Boileau. He read "Aesthetics of the detective genre" and addressed the author with a reply letter. For a long time, two members of the creative tandem communicated remotely.

Meeting and origin of cooperation

Ten years after Boileau, Pierre Robert Hérault was awarded a prize in the same contest for his novel Death in Departure. But if the first co-author won the nomination "The Best Detective of 1938", Toma Narsezhak was particularly noted. He was called the author, "masterfully owning the technique of writing adventure works." Pierre Boileau also came to the awarding ceremony. So the two writers finally met.

Two writers united a lot: love of romance with Arsen Lupine (the main character of Maurice Leblanc), discontent with the modern state of the genre of the French detective. And the writers decided to create a creative tandem, calling it a surname and a pseudonym - Boileau-Narsejak. The first fruit of such a joint work - the novel "Ghost Hunt", released in 1951 - became a bestseller. The authors did not stop there and continued their cooperation.

Boileau-Narsejak: books

Forty-one years, until the death of Pierre Boileau on January 16, 1989, there was this tandem. During this time, the authors wrote 37 stories and novels. They also "resurrected" robber-gentleman Arsen Lupine and devoted five interesting books to him. In co-authorship, three collections of short stories and six stories for young people were created. Especially it is necessary to mention "usurpation of personalities". This collection contains postmodern pastiches on A. Christie, Conan Doyle, E. Quinn, D. Sayers, G. Chesterton, R. Stout, L. Charteris and other masters of the genre.

The translation into Russian of the majority of works of the creative duet was first made in 2000, when the complete collection of the works of Boileau-Narsejak was published. In 11 volumes, already well-known novels and stories were published: "The one who did not exist", "Among the dead", "She-wolf", "Widowers", "Evil Eye", "Faces in Darkness", "In the Enchanted Forest" and much Other. In addition, such books as "Brother Judas", "Untouchables", "Closed Space" also appeared in Russian. The last work is still known under the name "In a close circle." This is a novel about two talented sisters who hate each other. They take revenge with refinement, for many years, with gifts that can drive you crazy.

Other works of creative tandem

Duet Boileau-Narsejak wrote not only police novels. From the pen of the co-authors came a thorough and detailed study of the history of the detective genre. The first literary-critical essay was released in 1964 under the title "Police novel". In 1975, the co-authors updated and supplemented this work with a "Machine designed to please readers." In these books, the essay not only traces the history and development trends of the genre of the police novel. The co-authors raise the problem that in the second half of the twentieth century, in the era of postmodernism, the psychological detective becomes more relevant than ever.

At the end of the life of both writers, in 1986, they published an autobiographical book, "Tandem, or Thirty-Five Years of" Troubled Tension. " In this work they open the veil of secrecy above the entrance to their "creative kitchen."

Tom Narsezhak survived his tandem partner for nine years. Their last joint work is the novel "The Sun in Hand", published in 1989. After the death of Boileau, he published several of his works. Pierre Robert Hérou died in Nice on the seventh of June 1998, having not lived a month before his ninety years.

Boileau-Narsejak: film adaptations

The twisted plot of detective novels, the development of events that constantly keeps the reader nervous tension, an unexpected denouement - all this is just perfect for putting the book into script format. The growing popularity of the tandem Boileau-Narsejak interested the filmmakers. And the numerous screen versions in the century, when they do not read, but look, have added glory to the co-authors. But we must pay tribute to the genius of writers. They made their way to the literary Olympus on their own.

"The one who did not become" - this is the first joint work of authors, migrated from paper pages to a wide screen. True, the director Henri-Georges Clouzot changed the title. Detective film "The Devil" was released on screens in early 1955 and won awards to them. Louis Delleuc and Edgar Allan.

Two years later, Boileau-Narsejak gave his consent to the adaptation of the novel From the World of the Dead. The director of the movie "Vertigo" was a master of "horrors", like Alfred Hitchcock.

Characteristics of the creativity of Boileau-Narsejak

Now the dual surname of the authors already serves as a brand of a high-quality detective novel. Tandem became a classic of French literature of the twentieth century. What is the secret of the popularity of this duet? A confined space, in which the action often unfolds in the novels of Boileau-Narsejak, narrows the circle of suspects. The reader always thinks that he is close to solving the mystery, which in fact turns out to be a network of skillfully placed traps. In the autobiographical book, writers revealed the basics of their creative process. Boileau gave the idea, "twisted the intrigue," and Narsezhak worked through the smallest details and polished the style.