Henri Charrière

Henri Charrière ( born November 16, 1906 in Saint- Étienne -de- Lugdarès, Ardèche, France, † 29 July 1973 in Madrid, Spain) was a French writer. He became famous for his two autobiographical novels Papillon and Banco.

Life

Henri Charrières life is not to describe in some points with absolute certainty because it has autobiographical elements, historical fact and fiction in his novels positively connected to a poetic and literary whole. Undoubtedly, many of the stories he knew only by hearsay, installed in his book. However, many indications suggest that his representations, if not his own experience, yet always correspond to the historical reality.

Charrière was born in 1906 in the provincial town of St. -Étienne -de- Lugdarès in Ardèche, the son of a teacher couple. In Paris, he was a long time worked as a safe cracker, until he became embroiled in the underworld milieu in a murder of a thief and a pimp. As punishment, he was sentenced in 1932 to life in exile in French Guiana. From the autumn of 1933 he was in the penal colony and fled several times on difficult paths that led him partially to Colombia and Venezuela. He lived among other things, for seven months among Indians. In autumn 1944 he finally succeeded, the final escape to British Guiana, a British colony. After a short internment, he was there finally released on 18 October 1945. After a small odyssey through and around British Guiana around, he finally managed to make a living in Venezuela and to acquire the Venezuelan citizenship. However, he probably never lived in a completely legal way and was involved among other things in this time of a failed bank robbery.

Published in 1970 his bestseller Charriere Papillon and thus gained international notoriety. The title ( Engl. Butterfly) refers to a tattoo Charrières in the shape of a butterfly. In the wake of the success of his first book he published in 1972, the continuation of Banco.

2005 Charrière was of Charles Brunier, an ex-prisoner in French Guiana, accused that parts of the story does not actually experienced by himself, but had been told by other prisoners.

The role Charrières the murder in Paris, who brought him finally to the penal camp, is still controversial. Although he denied life to have had to do with it, on the other hand seem to be various evidence suggests that he at least knew the real murderer, but has never betrayed him.

In 1971, Charrière tried as an actor: In the film Popsy Pop, an adventure film in the diamond merchant milieu of South America, he played a leading role alongside Claudia Cardinale and Stanley Baker.

Charriere died on 29 July 1973 in Madrid of throat cancer.

Works

Henri Charrière wrote two autobiographical novels Papillon and Banco.

The novel adaptation took place in the year 1973 under the same title Papillon. The title role is played by Steve McQueen. Also starring Dustin Hoffman and Anthony Zerbe occur.

According to contemporaries Charrière has in his two books so much ( to ) invented or altered the facts in his favor.