Soupault, Philippe

POET, NOVELIST, CRITIC (FRANCE)
BORN 2 Aug 1897, Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine - DIED 12 Mar 1990, Paris
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 17)

Philippe Soupault was the son of Maurice Soupault, a gastroenterologist and a rich landowner. His mother Cécile Dancongnée was a daughter of the lawyer Victor Léon Dancongnée. He was active in the dadaist movement and befriended André Breton and Louis Aragon. With Breton he was among the founders of the surrealist movement. Together they wrote "Les Champs magnétiques" (1919).

In 1918 he married Suzanne Pillard Verneuil (1895-1980). They had a daughter, Nicolel. Another daughter, Christina, was born from his second marriage in 1923 with Marie-Louise Le Borgne (1894-1955).

In 1926 he left the surrealist movement after it became more political. Together with Marie-Louise he translated William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" into French. From 1937 to 1940 he headed Radio Tunis, but in 1940 he was arrested by the pro-vichy regime. After an imprisonment of six months, he managed to leave Tunesia just before Rommel invaded it. He went to the USA in 1943 and returned to France in October 1945. During the war he supported the government of Charles de Gaulle. In 1945 he separated from his wife.

In 1957 he wrote the libretto for Germaine Tailleferre's opera "La Petite Sirène". In 1981 he published "Mémoires de l’oubli". He died in 1990 in Paris. Singer-songwriter Brigitte Sabouraud is his niece.

Related persons
• cooperated with Breton, André

Images

The grave of Philippe Soupault at the Cimetière Montmartre, Paris.
Picture by Androom (20 Feb 2016)

 

Sources
Philippe Soupault - Wikipedia


Soutar, Farren

Published: 18 Mar 2018
Last update: 19 Apr 2022