World Literary Awards

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Jean Portante

ジャン・ポルタント

Jan Porutanto

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1950-12-19 (Differdange)
Nationality
Luxembourg
Languages
French
Residence History
Differdange, Luxembourg → Nancy, France → Paris, France

Career

Occupations
novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, magazine editor
Active Years
1983-2024
Affiliations
Académie Mallarmé, Société des Gens de Lettres, Prix Guillaume Apollinaire
Memberships
Académie Mallarmé
Influenced By
Juan Gelman, Gonzalo Rojas

Awards

Rutebeuf Prize
1986
Work: Horizon, vertige & italie intercalaire
Category: poetry
Result: winner
Tony Bourg Prize
1993
Work: Ouvert fermé
Result: winner
Servais Prize
1994
Work: Mrs Haroy ou la mémoire de la baleine
Result: winner
Louis Montalto Poetry Award of the Society of Men of Letters
2003
Category: poetry
Organization: Société des Gens de Lettres
Result: winner
Prix Mallarmé
2003
Work: L’étrange langue
Organization: Académie Mallarmé
Result: winner
Batty Weber Prize
2011
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Mrs Haroy ou la mémoire de la baleine

1997 novel

A novel about the memory of a whale, exploring themes of identity and world citizenship from early age.

memoryidentityforgetfulness
Adaptations
  • [film] Mrs Haroy (2010)
Translations
  • translated into many languages

Translations by Author

  • Poetry by Juan Gelman, Gonzalo Rojas, etc.

Translations of Works

  • Point/Erasing (English, tr. Anne Marie Glasheen)
  • In Reality (English, tr. Zoë Skoulding)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
strong intertextualityevolving style
Recurring Motifs
identitymemory to forgetfulness

Legacy

Since early 1980s, explores identity from memory to forgetfulness in poetry, novels, drama, essays. Promotes Luxembourg literature at home and abroad.

Trivia

  • Began writing at age 33
  • Calls French a 'strange language'
  • Heads literary magazine Transkrit and Phi editions
  • Co-founded French poetry magazine Inuits dans la jungle