Blaise Cendrars

Blaise Cendrars ( born September 1, 1887 in La Chaux -de-Fonds, Canton of Neuchâtel, † January 21, 1961 in Paris, real name Frédéric -Louis Sauser ) was a French- Swiss writer and adventurer.

Life

At sixteen he ran away from home. His travels took him several times around the earth; also he visited Russia, Manchuria and China. As a young man he led the life of an adventurer and tried his hand at various jobs - including as beekeepers, as legionnaire and as a showman - until he studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Bern. In 1910 he came to Paris for the first time. Friendship among others with Guillaume Apollinaire, Marc Chagall, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Henry Miller, Amedeo Modigliani. Right at the outbreak of World War in the summer of 1914, Blaise Cendrars reported as a volunteer in the French Foreign Legion. In his tenure, he lost his right hand. As a Swiss resident in Paris, the young avant-garde poet felt obliged to defend his adopted homeland against the Germans. Subsequent tours have taken the writer inter alia to Rome ( 1921), Brazil ( 1924-1928 ) and Spain ( 1931). From 1950 lived Cendrars in Paris, where he died in 1961. He is buried in the cemetery of Le Tremblay- sur- Mauldre.

His oeuvre comprises some 40 volumes. The German editions were - apart from gold, his novel about Johann August Sutter - first published by Verlag Karl Rauch, from Ark Publishing and later by Lenos Verlag.

His estate is located in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern.

Works ( in German )

Poetry

Poetry. Smoke, Dusseldorf 1962
Poems I-III. French - German. 3 volumes, Ark., Zurich 1976/77/78
The Prose of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the little Jehanne from France. Lenos, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-85787-273- X
I am the Other. Collected Poems. Lenos, Basel 2004, ISBN 3-85787-347-7

Prose

Gold. The fabulous story of General John Augustus Sutter ( L'or, 1925). German by Ivan Goll. Rhine, Basel 1925 & Ark, Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-7160-2053-2
Wind of the World ( À l' aventure, 1958). Foreword by Henry Miller. Karl smoke, Dusseldorf 1960 & Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1990
Small Negro tales. Smoke, Dusseldorf 1961
Moloch. The life of Moravagine. Smoke, Dusseldorf 1961 & Ark, Zurich 1987 ISBN 3-7160-2055-9
Madame Thérèse. Novel. Smoke, Dusseldorf 1962
Dan Yack. Smoke, Dusseldorf 1963; Ark, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2056-7
The old harbor. Autobiographical narratives. Smoke, Dusseldorf 1964; Ark, Zurich 1975
Christmas in every corner of the world ( Noël aux quatre coins du monde, 1953). Ark, Zurich 1975
Gliding. Narratives. Ark, Zurich 1976
Rum novel. Ark, Zurich, 1977; again ibid., 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2078-8
Cutting off. Narrative ( Partir, 1952). Lenos, Basel, 1987; Paperback ibid. 1998, ISBN 3-85787-646-8
In the hinterland of the sky. At the antipodes of the unit. (L' eubage, 1926). Lenos, Basel, 1987; Paperback ibid. 1999, ISBN 3-85787-650-6
Brazil. An encounter (Le Brésil, 1952). Lenos, Basel 1988; Paperback ibid. 2001, ISBN 3-85787-665-4
John Paul Jones. The story of his youth. Novel fragment. Lenos, Basel 1990, ISBN 3-85787-194-6
On all oceans. ( Bourlinguer, 1948) Lenos, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-85787-274-8; Paperback ibid. 2008, ISBN 978-3-85787-714-8
At the microphone. Discussions with Michel Manoll. ( Blaise Cendrars vous parle ..., 1952) Lenos, Basel 1999, ISBN 3-85787-283-7
The signature of the fire. (L' homme foudroyé, 1945) Lenos, Basel 2000, ISBN 3-85787-300-0 Part Edition as: gypsy rhapsodies. Karl smoke, Dusseldorf 1963 Excerpt from it: the mother. Dialogue. Vendetta. Goldmann, Munich 1965 pp. 176-196

Selection: the new patron saint of aviators. Report and praise. Ark, Zurich 1980
Part Edition as: constellation Eiffel Tower. Ark, Zurich 1982