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  • Jean-Claude MourlevatFrance ⋆ Author
  • Taylor Kraayenbrink

"I have the impression that, in fiction, I am getting as close as possible to the truth in people."

Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Jean-Claude Mourlevat was born in 1952 in Ambert, France, and was raised in a large family in the country. He was educated in Strasbourg, Toulouse, and Paris in France, and studied in Germany at Stuttgart. After his education he taught German for some time, and then became a theatre actor. Mourlevat eventually directed plays by famous playwrights such as Brecht and Shakespeare. Critics have recognized the influence of Mourlevat's time as an actor and director in his writing, as he has a special gift for creating richly layered and engaging dialogue.

Mourlevat did not enter the field of children's literature until later in his life, publishing his first novel, La Balafre, in 1998. This book was quite successful, and it prompted Mourlevat to devote himself full time to writing for children. Since then, his writing success has taken him all over the world in support of his publications.

Mourlevat is a distinctive author on the French scene of children's literature. He has an affinity for telling adventure stories, into which he blends magic, science fiction, fantasy, and fable. Explaining his genre-bending practice, Mourlevat attributes it to "the desire to go further, to change genre, to explore worlds that were unknown to me. To play, because I hate to bore my readers and myself." Some of his works carry a light-hearted, often humourous tone, but beneath even his most light-hearted work, Mourlevat is a serious author whose work addresses weighty themes of abandonment, solitude and violence. However, he does not seek to leave his characters in unhappy places in his novels, and critics note the humanist drive behind all of Mourlevat's novels.

Mourlevat crafts his humanist stories by drawing on an extensive knowledge of myths and folktales, reinterpreting them as he weaves them into his own narratives. Mourlevat's prose also reveals a musical ear, and his books are full of rhythmic language. His works can be classified largely as young adult fiction, but he rejects the contemporary attraction in this field to explicit depictions of violence and sexuality. However, this refusal to consistently engage with contemporary trends is not at all due to prudish morality. Instead, Mourlevat attributes it to his "literary references," traditionally classic works of literature.

Selected Bibliography

La Balafre [The Scar]. Paris: Pocket Jeunesse, 1998. Print.
Le Chagrin du roi mort [The Dead King's Chagrin]. Paris: Gallimard Jeunesse, 2009. Print.
La Combatd'Hiver. [Winter Song]. Illus. Christian Heinrich. Paris: Gallimard Jeunesse, 2006. Print.
L'Enfant Ocean [The Pull of the Ocean]. Paris: Pocket Junior, 1999. Print.
Terrienne [Terrestrial Girl]. Paris: Gallimard Jeunesse, 2011. Print. [End Page 22]
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