Jean Tardieu

Tardieu, Jean (1903-95). French writer. A sense of existential bewilderment, provoking both anxiety and a certain dark exhilaration, informs Tardieu's work in the two media he has worked in extensively: drama and poetry. In Obscurité du jour (1977) he traces the origin of a feeling of depersonalization and anonymity which he associates with the intermittent impression of being inhabited by a voice that is not his own. Accordingly, language and word-play, dialogue and monologue, doubles and figments feature consistently in his writing.

Tardieu's first published poems appeared in the Nouvelle Revue Française in 1927 (Margeries, 1986, reprints much early unpublished work), but the core of his poetry will be found in Le Fleuve caché, which groups collections published between 1938 and 1961. Often tinged with an ironic, burlesque, and sometimes black humour (also a feature of his plays), Tardieu's poetry is suffused by a feeling for the enigmatic dimension at the heart of experience which language, however widely its resources are exploited, tends to confirm rather than dispel. Later collections include the poetic prose of La Part de l'ombre (1972) and L'Accent grave et l'accent aigu: poèmes 1976-1983 (1985), which deepen and ramify the same basic experiences and devices.

Tardieu contributed to many clandestine publications during the Occupation, and after the war made his career in French radio. His output includes ‘pièces radiophoniques’, but his best-known plays, collected in Théâtre de chambre (1955) and Poèmes à jouer (1960), were written for the ‘petites salles’ of the Left Bank and have been widely performed and translated around the world. Generally very brief, a typical Tardieu play develops a single idea, situation, or convention: theatrical asides (Oswald et Zénaide ou les Apartés), the hollowness of social chat (La Sonate et les trois messieurs), the illusory nature and pitfalls of hope (Qui est là?), memory (Une voix sans personne), or self-knowledge (Monsieur moi). Many of these ‘drames-éclair’ use word-play, verbal rhythm, and linguistic distortion to great effect, and in some cases, notably in Conversation-sinfonietta (1966), Tardieu orchestrates his dialogue as in a musical composition.

[Michael Sheringham]

Bibliography

• J. Onimus, Jean Tardieu: un rire inquiet (1985)

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Jean Tardieu (born in Saint-Germain-de-Joux, Ain, November 1, 1903, died in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, January 27, 1995) was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. He earned a degree in literature and worked for a publishing house. He published several poetry collections in the 1930s before starting to write for the stage. After World War Two, Tardieu entered the world of radio and worked his way to head of dramatic programming and then director of programs at France-Music. The quality and success of French National Public Radio after World War Two has been attributed largely to Jean Tardieu.

Tardieu's works mingled with the ideals of the French New Theatre and used comedy to pick apart more traditional theatre. He is often associated with the Theatre of the Absurd.

Some of his work has been translated into English, including:

• The underground lovers,: And other experimental plays
• Going...going...gone! The Client Dies Twice: Three Plays
• The River Underground: Selected Poems & Prose

The French Composer Germaine Tailleferre of Les Six, who was a harp student of Tardieu's mother Caroline and who first met Tardieu as a child, set several of Tardieu's poems to music notably in the "Concerto des Vaines Paroles" for Baritone Voice, Piano and Orchestra and in the cycle "Trois Poèmes de Jean Tardieu" for Voice and Piano.

He was a great friend of Jean René Bazaine who turned his poem L'Ombre, la branche into a fine illustrated art book.( Maeght Éditeur, 1977: 150 ex. with 16 colored litho's, 50 ex. with 3 added litho's.)

References

• http://web.whittier.edu/mmchirol/JT-EssayUS.html

"The Strange Case of Dr. Froeppel and Monsieur Tardieu", 'Paths to Contemporary French Literature', volume 2, by John Taylor, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2007, pp. 25-28.

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