Max-Pol Fouchet

Max-Pol Fouchet
-
Born	(1913-05-01)1 May 1913 Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue
Died	22 August 1980(1980-08-22) (aged 67) Avallon
Occupation	Writer

Max-Pol Fouchet (born 1 May 1913 in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France; died 22 August 1980 in Avallon) was a French poet, writer, art critic and television personality.

Biography

Born on Sunday 1 May 1913 at Place de la République in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, Max-Pol Fouchet was symbolically christened on the sailboat Liberté with a drop of Calvados between France and England. He spent his youth in Algiers, where his father, a Norman shipowner gassed during World War I, had emigrated with his family. While studying literature there, Fouchet met Albert Camus, who would later marry Fouchet's fiancée, Simone Hié.

In 1939, Fouchet, along with Charles Autrand, founded and directed the literary magazine Fontaine, a monthly publication of French poetry and literature that united resistant writers in Algiers. During the Occupation, Fontaine became a platform for French intellectual resistance, featuring works by committed writers such as Georges Bernanos, Louis Aragon, and René Char, among others. In 1942, he published Liberté by Paul Éluard. Simultaneously, Fouchet contributed literary and art chronicles to the French public radio (RTF).

On 13 July 1940 he married Jeanne Ghirardi, a literature professor, who tragically drowned on 9 January 1942 during the sinking of the Lamoricière off the Balearic Islands.

After World War II, Fouchet traveled the world and opened the pages of Fontaine to the philosopher Martin Heidegger, translated by Joseph Rovan through Edgar Morin, in 1945. Returning to France in the early 1950s, he contributed to the early development of French television, aiming to introduce culture to the masses. With Pierre Desgraupes and Pierre Dumayet, he created cultural programs such as Lectures pour tous, Le Fil de la vie, and especially Terre des Arts, a series on art documentaries that ran from 1964 to 1974 on ORTF.

On 9 July 1960 his daughter Marianne was born.

However, his outspoken positions against the death penalty, torture, and censorship distanced him from television, which was still tightly controlled by political powers at the time. Nonetheless, he continued his literary activities, publishing novels, poetry collections, and travel accounts.

Living in the Yonne region, he expressed his deep appreciation for the area in a 1978 television program. He died on 22 August 1980 of a stroke at the hospital in Avallon, and was buried on 25 August in the Vézelay cemetery. His grave is marked by a simple slab that reads, "He loved freedom." The orientation of the grave offers visitors a stunning view of the surrounding landscape.

Works

Fouchet authored numerous literary works, including Simples sans vertu (1937), La France au cœur (1944), Les Peuples nus (1953), and many others, ranging from poetry collections to essays on art and travel.

Filmography

He appeared in Alain Cuniot's 1966 film L'Or et le Plomb as "The Poet."

Tributes

In 1983, a commemorative stamp was issued featuring Max-Pol Fouchet, and a literary prize named in his honor has been awarded annually since 1982. Streets in Roussillon and Montauban are named after him.