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Jean Malaquais

ジャン・マラクエ

Jean Malaquais

Aliases: Wladimir Jan Pavel Malacki

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1908-01-01 （Warsaw）
Died
1998-12-22 age 90
Nationality
Polish, French, American
Languages
French, Polish
Religion
Non-religious (Jewish descent)
Residence History
Poland → France → Mexico → United States

Career

Occupations
novelist, translator, labourer
Active Years
1926-1998
Affiliations
Trotskyist Communist League, POUM
Memberships
Gauche communiste de France
Influenced By
André Gide

Awards

Prix Renaudot
1939
Work: Les Javanais
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Les Javanais

1939 novel

Novel based on his experience as an immigrant mine worker in Provence

immigrationlaboralienation
Translations
  • The Men From Java (1941, English)

Planète sans visa

1947 novel

About an international group of exiles in Vichy France

exilewarpolitics
Translations
  • World Without Visa (1949, English)

Bibliography

  • Les Javanais (1939)
  • Journal de guerre (1943)
  • Coups de barre (1944)
  • Planète sans visa (1947)
  • Le Gaffeur (1953)
  • Søren Kierkegaard: Foi et Paradoxe (1971)

Translations by Author

  • Translation of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead
  • Translation of Mircea Eliade's Occultisme, sorcellerie et modes culturelles

Translations of Works

  • Numerous English translations

Style & Themes

Literary Style
realismpolitical
Recurring Motifs
alienationexilesleftist thought

Legacy

Known as Prix Renaudot winner, acclaimed for works depicting exiles and laborers

Quotes

  • I had the feeling that the end of the world was approaching in Poland, so I wanted to discover the life of other lands before it disappeared entirely. Morally and intellectually I was a tramp, a companion of the dispossessed.
    Source: Autobiographical statement

Trivia

  • Jewish descent from non-religious Polish family
  • Pen name from Quai Malaquais
  • Fought in Spanish Civil War with POUM
  • Escaped to Mexico with Varian Fry's help