20th-century French poets

Jean-Pierre_Duprey

Jean-Pierre Duprey (1 January 1930, in Rouen – 2 October 1959, in Paris) was a French poet and sculptor, one of the modern examples of a poète maudit (accursed poet).
Duprey said "I, I shouldn't have got stuck in this galaxy!" André Breton, fascinated by the darkness and imagery in Duprey's poetry, invited the author to Paris in 1948. Duprey's books are not a celebration of death, neither do they find comfort in thinking about it. All questions asked in the poems of his last book The End and the Means (1970) are left unanswered, but their author found a way somewhere "beyond" (Jouffroy, 1970, quoted in ).
He had a sense for scandals, too. One day he went to the grave of the Unknown Soldier by the Arc de Triomphe and urinated on the eternal flame for which he was arrested and beaten in the jail; later also taken to a mental hospital. Between 1951 and 1958 he did not write and concentrated on working on sculptures. He wrote his final book in 1959 and upon completion, he asked his wife to send the manuscript to Breton. When she returned from the post office, she found him dead; he had hanged himself in his studio.
Three days before his death, he said calmly to a friend: "I am allergic to this planet".

Christian_Bobin

Christian Bobin (24 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a French author and poet.
Bobin received the 1993 Prix des Deux Magots for the book Le Très-Bas (translated into English in 1997 by Michael Kohn and published under two titles: The Secret of Francis of Assisi: A Meditation and The Very Lowly).

Daniel_Giraud

Daniel Giraud (10 January 1946 – 6 October 2023) was a French essayist, translator, and poet. He was also a blues musician under the stage name Dan Giraud.
Giraud translated the poems of Oriental writers such as Li Bai, Hanshan, Ryōkan, and Sengcan. He also wrote works on Chan Buddhism, alchemy, and astrology.

Joseph_d'Arbaud

Joseph d'Arbaud (4 October 1874 – 2 March 1950) was a French poet and writer from Provence. He was a leading figure in the Provençal Revival, a literary movement of the nineteenth century.

Frédéric_Jacques_Temple

Frédéric Jacques Temple (18 August 1921 – 5 August 2020) was a French poet and writer. His work includes poems (collected in 1989 in a "Personal Anthology"), novels, travel stories and essays.
He also realised translations of English, Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, and Lawrence Durrell.

Maurice_Rostand

Maurice Rostand (26 May 1891 – 21 February 1968) was a French author, the son of the poet and dramatist Edmond Rostand and the poet Rosemonde Gérard, and brother of the biologist Jean Rostand.
Rostand was a writer of poems, novels, and plays. He was friends with Jean Cocteau and Lucien Daudet and was one of the homosexual personalities who frequented the salons during the period between the wars.In 1948, he published his memoirs, Confession d'un demi-siècle. He is interred in Passy Cemetery.

Jacques_Rigaut

Jacques Rigaut (French pronunciation: [ʁiɡo]; 30 December 1898 – 9 November 1929) was a French surrealist poet. Born in Paris, he was part of the Dadaist movement. His works frequently talked about suicide and he came to regard its successful completion as his occupation. In 1929 at the age of 30, as he had announced, Rigaut shot himself, using a ruler to be sure the bullet would pass through his heart.He is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
Rigaut's works include:

Agence Générale du Suicide
Et puis merde!
Papiers Posthumes
Lord PatchogueHis suicide inspired the book Will O' the Wisp by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle. The movie The Fire Within from Louis Malle is based on this book. The movie Oslo, August 31st directed by Joachim Trier, released in 2011, is also largely based on Will O' the Wisp although the narrative takes place in contemporary Norway. The Granada-based Spanish indie pop band Lori Meyers has a song entitled "La Vida de Jacques Rigaut" (The Life of Jacques Rigaut) with its lyrics relating with his life.