Paul Eluard

French poet. His real name was Eugène Grandel. He was born on December 14th in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris. He contracted tuberculosis as a boy, and while recuperating in Switzerland he met a Russian girl named Gala, whom he later married. During World War I he experienced the horrors of war as a nurse, and published anti-war poetry collections "Duty and Anxiety" (1917) and "Poems for Peace" (1918). After the war he joined the Dada movement in Paris, and became a representative poet of the Surrealist movement along with Breton and Aragon. In his poetry collections such as "Capital of Agony" (1926), "Love Poem" (1929), and "Life Immediately" (1932), his naturally clear and elegant style was combined with bold experimental idioms, and surprising surreal images emerged from unexpected combinations of simple words, pulsating with a brilliant eroticism. He also co-authored with Breton and Charle, Slow Down the Road (1930), and with Breton, The Virgin Birth (1930).

After separating from Gala, he married his second wife, Nuche (1934), and became an activist in the international Surrealist movement. His masterpieces from his middle period, such as The Fertile Eye (1936), The Free Hand (1937), The Natural Flow (1938), and Show (1939), show his careful attempt to write works accessible to everyone using simple language. With the rise of Fascism and the Spanish Civil War, he gradually became more interested in political issues, and in 1938 he broke with Breton's group. His works such as his poetic treatise Poetic Proof (1936), which considers social justice and brotherly love to be the goals of poetry, and his collection of poems The Triumph of Guernica (1938) reflect the inner changes he underwent during this time. During World War II, he joined the anti-German resistance movement and rejoined the Communist Party. His works such as "Poetry and Truth 1942" (1942) and "At the German Garrison" (1944), which include the masterpiece of resistance poetry "Freedom", were widely sung by the public. His representative works in his later years include "Unstoppable Poems" (1946-53), "Time Overflows" (1947), and "Phoenix" (1951). He passed away on November 18, 1952.

[Junichi Tanaka]

"The Selected Works of Eluard, translated by Akira Shimaoka (1972, Iizuka Shoten)" ▽ "The Collected Poems of Eluard, translated by Tsuguo Ando (1969, Shichosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの詩人。本名ウージェーヌ・グランデル。12月14日パリ北郊サン・ドニに生まれる。少年期に肺結核にかかり、スイスで療養中にロシア娘ガラに出会い、のち結婚する。第一次世界大戦中は看護兵として戦争の惨禍を体験、反戦詩集『義務と不安』（1917）、『平和のための詩』（1918）を発表する。戦後はパリのダダ運動に参加、さらにブルトン、アラゴンらとともにシュルレアリスム運動の代表的詩人となる。『苦悩の首都』（1926）、『愛・詩』（1929）、『直接の生』（1932）などの詩集においては、生来の明快流麗な文体に大胆な実験的語法が加わり、平易な語句の意想外な組合せから驚くべき超現実的イメージが出現し、華麗なエロティシズムが脈動している。また、ブルトン、シャールとの共著『工事中徐行』（1930）、ブルトンとの共著『処女懐胎』（1930）がある。

　ガラと別れたあとは第二の妻ニュッシュを迎え（1934）、国際的シュルレアリスム運動の活動家として活躍、『肥沃(ひよく)な眼(め)』（1936）、『自由な手』（1937）、『自然な流れ』（1938）、『見せる』（1939）などの中期の秀作には、平明な言語により万人に親しみやすい作品を書こうとする配慮がみられる。ファシズム台頭、スペイン内乱を契機としてしだいに政治問題に関心を深め、1938年ブルトンらのグループと決別する。社会正義と同胞愛を詩の目的とみなす詩論『詩的証明』（1936）や詩集『ゲルニカの勝利』（1938）などの作品にはこの間のエリュアールの内的変化が反映している。第二次世界大戦中は対独抵抗運動に加わり、共産党に再入党。抵抗詩の傑作「自由」を含む『詩と真実1942』（1942）、『ドイツ軍駐屯地で』（1944）などは広く一般に愛唱された。晩年の代表作に『とだえざる詩』（1946～53）、『時は溢(あふ)れる』（1947）、『フェニックス』（1951）などがある。52年11月18日没。

［田中淳一］

『嶋岡晨訳『エリュアール選集』全二巻（1972・飯塚書店）』▽『安東次男訳『エリュアール詩集』（1969・思潮社）』

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