Achard - Marcel Achard

French playwright. Born in a town on the outskirts of Lyon. After working as a newspaper reporter, he joined the theatrical innovation movement with Jacques Copeau and others, making his debut with "Don't Play With Me" which premiered in 1923. Since then, he has produced many works, and during the First and Second World Wars, he teamed up with directors Charles Durand and Louis Jouvet, and became a leading figure in the theater world as a writer of fun, fresh, but not necessarily shallow, boulevard plays. His works include "Marlborough Goes to War," "I Don't Like You," and "The Pirates," but "Jean de la Lune" (premiered in 1929) was a huge hit.

His style of writing, which depicts the difficulty of living a pure life through the conflict between seemingly foolish good people and a vulgar society, became increasingly mature after World War II, demonstrating its vitality in works such as "The Potato" (1957) and "The Stupid Girl" (1960), and he was elected a member of the Academy in 1959.

[Jun Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの劇作家。リヨン郊外の町に生まれる。新聞記者などを経て、ジャック・コポーらと演劇革新の運動に参加、1923年初演の『あたいといっしょに遊ばない』でデビューした。以来作品の数は多く、第一次、第二次世界大戦間に演出家シャルル・デュランやルイ・ジューベと結んで、楽しくて、かならずしも浅くはないフレッシュなブールバール劇の書き手として、劇壇に重きをなした。『マルボローは戦争に行く』『あなたは好きじゃない』『海賊』などがあるが、とくに『お月様のジャン』（1929初演）は大ヒットした。

　一見愚かにみえる善人と俗悪な社会との葛藤(かっとう)を通じて、純粋に生きることのむずかしさを描く筆致は、第二次大戦後もますます円熟味を増し、『じゃがいも』（1957）、『馬鹿(ばか)娘』（1960）でも健在ぶりを示し、1959年にはアカデミー会員に選ばれた。

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