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Les poissons rouges

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156pages. 18x11x1cm. Broché.

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

39 people want to read

About the author

Jean Anouilh

308 books166 followers
Works, such as Antigone (1944), of French playwright Jean Anouilh juxtapose harsh reality and fantasy.

A Basque family bore Anouilh in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux. From his father, a tailor, Anouilh maintained that he inherited a dignity in conscientious craftsmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, a violinist, whose summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon supplemented the meager income of the family.

He attended école primaire supérieure and received his secondary education at the Collège Chaptal. Jean-Louis Barrault, a pupil at the same time and later a major director, recalls Anouilh as an intense, rather dandified figure, who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger. Anouilh enrolled as a law student in the University of Paris but after just eighteen months then found employment in the advertising industry and abandoned the course. He spoke more than once with wry approval of the lessons in the classical virtues of brevity and precision of language he learned while drafting copy.

He followed his first unsuccessful l’Hermine in 1929 with a string. He struggled through years of poverty and produced several dramas until he eventually wound as secretary to the great actor-director Louis Jouvet. He quickly discovered inability to get with this gruff man and left his company. During the Nazi occupation, Anouilh not openly took sides, but people often view his most famous publication. He criticizes collaboration with the Nazis in an allegorical manner. Mostly keeping aloof from politics, Anouilh also clashed with Charles de Gaulle in the 1950s.

In 1964, people made Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu (Becket or The Honor of God) into a successful film, starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton. Edward Anhalt adapted and won an Academy Award for his screen.

Anouilh grouped on the basis of dominant tone: "black" tragedies, dominant "pink," "brilliant" combined in aristocratic environments, "jarring" with bitter humor, "costumed" historical characters feature, "baroque," and my failures.

In 1970, the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca recognized him.

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Ocean.
777 reviews46 followers
October 14, 2018
I'm not sure to have understood/analysed everything properly as I'm reading this with a raging fever. Is it an odd satire ? Making fun of Antoine and his class or of the people that surround him ?
I probably should reread this short piece with a clearer mind one day. However it has charming qualities to it, as well as rather funny scenes. If anything it is at least an enjoyable read.
Profile Image for Joshua.
59 reviews
April 16, 2025
Des invectives à n'en plus finir, des échanges qui n'ont parfois ni queue ni tête, tout comme la temporalité de la pièce, ou encore des personnages plus pathétiques et étranges que les autres.

Les poissons rouges ou Mon père, ce héros, reste une comédie grinçante agréable à lire, le temps de quelques heures. Ce qui est moins facile, par contre, c'est d'en comprendre le sens -- alors peut-être ne faut-il que rire de la lire, et ignorer toute signification secondaire du texte.
Profile Image for 🧘🏻‍♂️ .
20 reviews2 followers
May 1, 2021
La légèreté de la vie à la Kundera.
Laissez-nous tranquille.
Les riches et les pauvres.
L’absurde qui fait plaisir.
L’héritage du caractère du père laissé au fils.
Les femmes et les hommes - un peu plus dans l’ancien temps.

Acheté car Nekfeu disait l’avoir lu d’une traite dans une interview.

Lu d’une traite comme Nekfeu le disait dans une interview.

Boucle est bouclée.
Profile Image for Ivalmoryah.
22 reviews
January 13, 2023
À lire en remettant dans le context de l'époque et en sachant que certaines idées ainsi que certains mots ont bien mal vieillis. Ceci mis à part, les réparties sont incroyables et l'absurdité exquise. J'aime le rythme, j'aurais aimé la voir jouée.
Profile Image for Stefano Vitucci.
43 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2025
Un livre très étrange. Peut-être je ne l’ai pas compris très bien. Mais dès que l'auteur a écrit « qui a pissé dans les poissons rouges », j’ai su que ce serait une lecture bizarre
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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