Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour in Brussels, Belgium, to Michel Cleenewerck de Crayencour, of French bourgeois descent, originating from French Flanders, a very wealthy landowner,[4] and a Belgian mother, Fernande de Cartier de Marchienne, of Belgian nobility, who died ten days after her birth. She grew up in the home of her paternal grandmother. She adopted the surname Yourcenar – an almost anagram of Crayencour, having one fewer c – as a pen name; in 1947 she also took it as her legal surname.[5]
Yourcenar's first novel, Alexis, was published in 1929. She translated Virginia Woolf's The Waves over a 10-month period in 1937. In 1939, her partner at the time,[6] the literary scholar and Kansas City native Grace Frick, invited Yourcenar to the United States to escape the outbreak of World War II in Europe. She lectured in comparative literature in New York City and Sarah Lawrence College.[7]
Yourcenar was a lesbian;[8] she and Frick became lovers in 1937 and remained together until Frick's death in 1979 and a tormented relationship with Jerry Wilson. After ten years spent in Hartford, Connecticut, they bought a house in Northeast Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island, where they lived for decades.[6] They are buried alongside each other at Brookside Cemetery, Somesville, Mount Desert, Maine.[9]
In 1951, she published, in France, the novel Memoirs of Hadrian, which she had been writing on-and-off for a decade. The novel was an immediate success and met with great critical acclaim. In this novel, Yourcenar recreated the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world, the Roman emperorHadrian, who writes a long letter to Marcus Aurelius, the son and heir of Antoninus Pius, his successor and adoptive son. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing both his triumphs and his failures, his love for Antinous, and his philosophy. The novel has become a modern classic.
In 1980, Yourcenar was the first female member elected to the Académie française. An anecdote tells of how the bathroom labels were then changed in this male-dominated institution: "Messieurs|Marguerite Yourcenar" (Gents/Marguerite Yourcenar). She published many novels, essays, and poems, as well as a trilogy of memoirs. At the time of her death, she was working on the third volume, called Quoi? L'Eternité.[10]
Yourcenar's house on Mount Desert Island, Petite Plaisance, is now a museum dedicated to her memory. She is buried across the sound in Somesville, Maine.
Marguerite Yourcenar's funeral plate. The epitaph, written in French, is from The Abyss: «Plaise à Celui qui Est peut-être de dilater le cœur de l'homme à la mesure de toute la vie.», which can be translated to "May it please the One who is perchance to expand the human heart to life's full measure."
George Rousseau, Marguerite Yourcenar: A Biography (London: Haus Publishing, 2004).
Judith Holland Sarnecki, Subversive Subjects: Reading Marguerite Yourcenar (2004)
Giorgetto Giorgi, "Il Grand Tour e la scoperta dell’antico nel Labyrinthe du monde di Marguerite Yourcenar," in Sergio Audano, Giovanni Cipriani (ed.), Aspetti della Fortuna dell'Antico nella Cultura Europea: atti della settima giornata di studi, Sestri Levante, 19 March 2010 (Foggia: Edizioni il Castello, 2011) (Echo, 1), 99–108.
Les yeux ouverts, entretiens avec Mathieu Galey (Éditions du Centurion « Les interviews », 1980).
Bérengère Deprez, Marguerite Yourcenar et les États-Unis. Du nageur à la vague, Éditions Racine, 2012, 192 p.
Bérengère Deprez, Marguerite Yourcenar and the United States. From Prophecy to Protest, Peter Lang, coll. « Yourcenar », 2009, 180 p.
Deprez, Marguerite Yourcenar. Écriture, maternité, démiurgie, essai, Bruxelles, Archives et musée de la littérature/PIE-Peter Lang, coll. « Documents pour l’histoire des francophonies », 2003, 330 p.
Donata Spadaro, Marguerite Yourcenar et l'écriture autobiographique : Le Labyrinthe du monde, bull. SIEY, no 17, décembre 1996, p. 69 à 83
Donata Spadaro, Marguerite Yourcenar e l'autobiografia (ADP, 2014)
Mireille Brémond, Marguerite Yourcenar, une femme à l'Académie (Garnier, 2019);.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Marguerite Yourcenar.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marguerite Yourcenar.
Marguerite Yourcenar, alchimie du paysage, a documentary film by Jacques Loeuille, France Télévisions 2014.
Petri Liukkonen. "Marguerite Yourcenar". Books and Writers
Jacob Stockinger (3 March 2004). . glbtq Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
Marguerite Yourcenar et Suzanne Lilar : plus qu’une rencontre, une complicité by Michèle Goslar
, Catalogue of correspondence and manuscripts concerning Walter Kaiser's English translation of works by French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, Houghton Library, Harvard University
marguerite, yourcenar, ʊər, ɑːr, ɑːr, ʊər, ɑːr, french, maʁɡ, ʁit, juʁsənaʁ, listen, born, marguerite, antoinette, jeanne, marie, ghislaine, cleenewerck, crayencour, june, 1903, december, 1987, belgian, born, french, novelist, essayist, became, citizen, 1947, . Marguerite Yourcenar UK ˈ j ʊer s e n ɑːr ˈ j ʊ k e n ɑːr 1 2 US ˌ j ʊer s e ˈ n ɑːr 3 French maʁɡ e ʁit juʁsenaʁ listen born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour 8 June 1903 17 December 1987 was a Belgian born French novelist and essayist who became a US citizen in 1947 Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize she was the first woman elected to the Academie Francaise in 1980 as well as the seventeenth person to occupy seat 3 Marguerite YourcenarBornMarguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour 1903 06 08 8 June 1903Brussels BelgiumDied17 December 1987 1987 12 17 aged 84 Bar Harbor Maine USOccupationNovelist essayist poetNationalityFrench AmericanNotable worksMemoires d HadrienNotable awardsErasmus Prize 1983 PartnerGrace Frick 1937 1979 Frick s death Contents 1 Biography 2 Legacy and honors 3 Bibliography 4 References 5 Sources 6 External linksBiography EditYourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour in Brussels Belgium to Michel Cleenewerck de Crayencour of French bourgeois descent originating from French Flanders a very wealthy landowner 4 and a Belgian mother Fernande de Cartier de Marchienne of Belgian nobility who died ten days after her birth She grew up in the home of her paternal grandmother She adopted the surname Yourcenar an almost anagram of Crayencour having one fewer c as a pen name in 1947 she also took it as her legal surname 5 Yourcenar s first novel Alexis was published in 1929 She translated Virginia Woolf s The Waves over a 10 month period in 1937 In 1939 her partner at the time 6 the literary scholar and Kansas City native Grace Frick invited Yourcenar to the United States to escape the outbreak of World War II in Europe She lectured in comparative literature in New York City and Sarah Lawrence College 7 Yourcenar was a lesbian 8 she and Frick became lovers in 1937 and remained together until Frick s death in 1979 and a tormented relationship with Jerry Wilson After ten years spent in Hartford Connecticut they bought a house in Northeast Harbor Maine on Mount Desert Island where they lived for decades 6 They are buried alongside each other at Brookside Cemetery Somesville Mount Desert Maine 9 In 1951 she published in France the novel Memoirs of Hadrian which she had been writing on and off for a decade The novel was an immediate success and met with great critical acclaim In this novel Yourcenar recreated the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world the Roman emperor Hadrian who writes a long letter to Marcus Aurelius the son and heir of Antoninus Pius his successor and adoptive son The Emperor meditates on his past describing both his triumphs and his failures his love for Antinous and his philosophy The novel has become a modern classic In 1980 Yourcenar was the first female member elected to the Academie francaise An anecdote tells of how the bathroom labels were then changed in this male dominated institution Messieurs Marguerite Yourcenar Gents Marguerite Yourcenar She published many novels essays and poems as well as a trilogy of memoirs At the time of her death she was working on the third volume called Quoi L Eternite 10 Yourcenar s house on Mount Desert Island Petite Plaisance is now a museum dedicated to her memory She is buried across the sound in Somesville Maine Marguerite Yourcenar s funeral plate The epitaph written in French is from The Abyss Plaise a Celui qui Est peut etre de dilater le cœur de l homme a la mesure de toute la vie which can be translated to May it please the One who is perchance to expand the human heart to life s full measure Legacy and honors Edit1952 Prix Femina Vacaresco for Memoires d Hadrien Memoirs of Hadrian 1958 Prix Renee Vivien for Les charites d Alcippe The Alms of Alcippe 1963 Prix Combat for Sous benefice d inventaire The Dark Brain of Piranesi 1968 Prix Femina for L Œuvre au noir The Abyss 1972 Prix Prince Pierre de Monaco for her entire oeuvre 1974 Grand Prix national de la culture for Souvenirs pieux Dear Departed 1977 Grand Prix de l Academie francaise for her entire oeuvre 1980 elected to the Academie francaise the first woman so honored 1983 winner of the Erasmus Prize for contributions to European literature and culture 1987 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 11 2003 12 November Belgium issues a postage stamp 12 Code 200320B with the value of 0 59 Euro 2020 Google celebrated her 117th birthday with a Google Doodle 13 Bibliography EditLe jardin des chimeres 1921 Les dieux ne sont pas morts 1922 Alexis ou le traite du vain combat 1929 translated as Alexis by Walter Kaiser ISBN 0 374 51906 4 La nouvelle Eurydice 1931 Pindare 1932 Denier du reve 1934 revised 1958 59 translated as A Coin in Nine Hands by Dori Katz ISBN 0 552 99120 1 La mort conduit l attelage 1934 Feux prose poem 1936 translated as Fires by Dori Katz ISBN 0 374 51748 7 Nouvelles orientales short stories 1938 translated as Oriental Tales ISBN 1 85290 018 0 includes Comment Wang Fo fut sauve first published 1936 filmed by Rene Laloux Les songes et les sorts 1938 translated as Dreams and Destinies by Donald Flanell Friedman Le coup de grace 1939 translated as Coup de Grace by Grace Frick ISBN 0 374 51631 6 Memoires d Hadrien 1951 translated as Memoirs of Hadrian by Grace Frick ISBN 0 14 018194 6 Electre ou la chute des masques 1954 Les charites d Alcippe 1956 Constantin Cavafy 1958 Sous benefice d inventaire 1962 Fleuve profond sombre riviere les negros spirituals 1964 L Œuvre au noir novel 1968 Prix Femina 1968 translated as The Abyss or Zeno of Bruges by Grace Frick 1976 Theatre 1971 Souvenirs pieux 1974 translated as Dear Departed A Memoir by Maria Louise Ascher ISBN 0 374 52367 3 Archives du Nord 1977 translated as How Many Years A Memoir by Maria Louise Ascher Le labyrinthe du monde 1974 84 Mishima ou la vision du vide essay 1980 translated as Mishima A Vision of the Void ISBN 0 226 96532 5 Anna soror 1981 Comme l eau qui coule 1982 translated as Two Lives and a Dream Includes Anna Soror An Obscure Man and A Lovely Morning Le temps ce grand sculpteur 1984 translated as That Mighty Sculptor Time by Walter Kaiser essays ISBN 0 85628 159 X The Dark Brain of Piranesi and Other Essays 1984 translated by Richard Howard ISBN 0 856 28140 9 La Couronne et la Lyre Xatzhnikolhs editions 1986 Quoi L Eternite 1988 Other works available in English translation A Blue Tale and Other Stories ISBN 0 226 96530 9 Three stories written between 1927 and 1930 translated and published 1995 With Open Eyes Conversations with Matthieu GaleyReferences Edit Yourcenar Collins English Dictionary HarperCollins Retrieved 2 September 2019 Yourcenar Marguerite Lexico UK English Dictionary Oxford University Press dead link Yourcenar Merriam Webster Dictionary Retrieved 2 September 2019 CIDMY Proches Centre International de Documentation Marguerite Yourcenar Retrieved 11 November 2019 George Stade 1990 European Writers Twentieth Century Scribner p 2536 ISBN 978 0 684 19158 4 a b Joan Acocella 14 February 2005 Becoming the Emperor The New Yorker Retrieved 8 January 2009 Shusha Guppy Spring 1988 Marguerite Yourcenar The Art of Fiction No 103 The Paris Review Spring 1988 106 accessed 17 February 2011 Griffin Gabriele September 2003 Who s Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing Routledge p 291 ISBN 9781134722099 Retrieved 2 July 2022 Marguerite Yourcenar 21 February 2002 Retrieved 11 September 2013 John Taylor 31 December 2011 Paths to Contemporary French Literature Transaction Publishers p 261 ISBN 978 1 4128 0951 1 Book of Members 1780 2010 Chapter Y PDF American Academy of Arts and Sciences Retrieved 22 July 2014 Literatuur op postzegels Belgie 2003 in Dutch Filahome com Archived from the original on 17 May 2008 Retrieved 17 June 2014 Marguerite Yourcenar s 117th Birthday Google 8 June 2020 Sources EditJoan E Howard From Violence to Vision Sacrifice in the Works of Marguerite Yourcenar 1992 Josyane Savigneau Marguerite Yourcenar Inventing a Life 1993 George Rousseau Marguerite Yourcenar A Biography London Haus Publishing 2004 Judith Holland Sarnecki Subversive Subjects Reading Marguerite Yourcenar 2004 Giorgetto Giorgi Il Grand Tour e la scoperta dell antico nel Labyrinthe du monde di Marguerite Yourcenar in Sergio Audano Giovanni Cipriani ed Aspetti della Fortuna dell Antico nella Cultura Europea atti della settima giornata di studi Sestri Levante 19 March 2010 Foggia Edizioni il Castello 2011 Echo 1 99 108 Les yeux ouverts entretiens avec Mathieu Galey Editions du Centurion Les interviews 1980 Berengere Deprez Marguerite Yourcenar et les Etats Unis Du nageur a la vague Editions Racine 2012 192 p Berengere Deprez Marguerite Yourcenar and the United States From Prophecy to Protest Peter Lang coll Yourcenar 2009 180 p Deprez Marguerite Yourcenar Ecriture maternite demiurgie essai Bruxelles Archives et musee de la litterature PIE Peter Lang coll Documents pour l histoire des francophonies 2003 330 p Donata Spadaro Marguerite Yourcenar et l ecriture autobiographique Le Labyrinthe du monde bull SIEY no 17 decembre 1996 p 69 a 83 Donata Spadaro Marguerite Yourcenar e l autobiografia ADP 2014 Mireille Bremond Marguerite Yourcenar une femme a l Academie Garnier 2019 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Marguerite Yourcenar Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marguerite Yourcenar Marguerite Yourcenar alchimie du paysage a documentary film by Jacques Loeuille France Televisions 2014 Works by Marguerite Yourcenar at Open Library Petri Liukkonen Marguerite Yourcenar Books and Writers Jacob Stockinger 3 March 2004 Yourcenar Marguerite 1903 1987 glbtq Encyclopedia Archived from the original on 16 January 2009 Retrieved 8 January 2009 Marguerite Yourcenar et Suzanne Lilar plus qu une rencontre une complicite by Michele Goslar English translations of Marguerite Yourcenar by Walter Jacob Kaiser Catalogue of correspondence and manuscripts concerning Walter Kaiser s English translation of works by French writer Marguerite Yourcenar Houghton Library Harvard University Portals Biography LGBT Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Marguerite Yourcenar amp oldid 1140576094, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
