Jacques Marie Prevel (July 27, 1915, in Bolbec – May 27, 1951, in Sainte-Feyre) was a French poet.
Biography
Prevel was born in Bolbec, Normandy. He added "Marie" to his name to avoid confusion with the poet Jacques Prévert, whose surname is pronounced similarly. At age eighteen, he moved to Le Havre, where he married and obtained a position as a copywriter in the municipal administration. In 1942, during the German occupation of France, he moved to Paris and settled in the Saint-Germain-des-Près district.
In Paris, Prevel befriended members of the Le Grand Jeu movement, including René Daumal and Roger Gilbert-Lecomte, as well as the playwright Arthur Adamov. His most significant relationship was with the poet and dramatist Antonin Artaud, whom he met on May 27, 1946. Prevel considered Artaud his master, though Artaud also admired Prevel's writings. Prevel kept a detailed diary of his daily life with Artaud, which was published posthumously as En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud (1974). He also supplied Artaud with laudanum and opium.
Prevel died of tuberculosis at the sanatorium in Sainte-Feyre on May 27, 1951—exactly five years to the day after his first meeting with Artaud.
Works
Poetry
- Poèmes mortels (1945) — Mortal Poems
- Poèmes pour toute mémoire (1947) — Poems for All Memory
- De colère et de haine (1950) — Of Rage and Hatred
- En dérive vers l’absolu (1952) — Adrift Toward the Absolute (posthumous)
Diary
- En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud (1974) — In the Company of Antonin Artaud (posthumous)
