Claude Seignolle
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Claude Seignolle (25 June 1917 – 13 July 2018) was a French author. His main interests were folklore and archaeology before he turned to fiction. He has also written under the pseudonyms 'Starcante', 'S. Claude' and 'Jean-Robert Dumoulin'.
His brand of fantastique was influenced by his “sorcerous childhood” spent in the misty plains of his native Sologne, and a terrifying encounter with the devil incarnated in a local warlock which he claimed to have experienced at age 15 in 1932. This conferred a real sense of authenticity to Seignolle’s books, which were almost devoid of any literary artifices. His major works include La Malvenue [The Illcome] (1952) and the collections Histoires Maléfiques [Maleficent Tales] (1965) and Contes Macabres [Macabre Stories] (1966).
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Early and later life
At the age of twelve his family moved to Chatenay-Malabry and he went to school in Lakanal at Sceaux where his history teacher encouraged his interests in archaeology. He was expelled from this school for absenteeism.
He later joined the French Prehistoric Society, where he met the renowned folklorist Arnold Van Gennep. With his brother Jacques, Claude toured Hurepoix for two years collecting folklore and legends, and in 1937 he co-wrote with his brother The Folklore of Hurepoix, which was praised by Pierre Mac Orlan and Blaise Cendrars. In 1945 he published his first novel Le Rond des sorciers.
He lived in the liberation St. Montaine, still in Sologne, where he collected local folklore and stories that inspired several of his books. Seignolle wrote several books of supernatural horror, including The Accursed. He is considered by some to be one of the best French fantasists; Lawrence Durrell has written of Seignolle: "The devils, the werewolves and the vampires...appear in his novels as disturbing realities, and the attitude he adopts towards them is so matter-of-fact that the reader rapidly finds himself believing in them...." Horror historian R.S. Hadji included Seignolle on his list of the greatest horror writers.
He turned 100 in June 2017. and died in July 2018 at the age of 101.
Awards
In November 2008 he received the Prix Alfred Verdaguer from the French Academy.
A literary prize bearing his name recognizes the works relating to French folklore. It is awarded annually since 2004, in Épinal, at the Festival Imaginales.
Bibliography of works in English
- Man with Seven Wolves, The Child's World (Minn.), 1992 (novel, with Jacqueline Kergueno)
- The Accursed, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (London), 1967 (two novellas)
- The Nightcharmer: And Other Tales, Texas A&M University Press (College Station, Texas), 1983 (stories)
- The Black Cupboard, Ex Occidente (Bucharest, Romania), 2010 (novella)
Works in French
- Romans
- 1945 : Le rond de sorciers
- 1949 : Marie la louve
- 1952 : La Malvenue
- 1959 : La brume ne se lèvera plus
- 1959 : Le diable en sabot
- Nouvelles
- 1947 : Le meneur de loups
- 1958 : Le bahut noir - Ma cour des miracles
- 1959 : La brume ne se lèvera plus - Le diable en sabots
- 1960 : Le Chupador[1] - Le gâloup
- 1962 : Ce que me raconta Jacob - Désirée la sangsue - L'âme boiteuse - Le diable en sabots
- 1963 : Delphine - Le rond des sorciers
- 1964 : Et si c'était ? - L'homme qui ne pouvait mourir - Le christ est vengé - Le faucheur - Les autres et moi - Minnah l'étoile - Un bel ensorcelé - Un petit monstre à louer au quart d'heure
- 1965 : L'exécution - La huche - Le millième cierge - Les âmes aigries - Pauvre Sonia
- 1966 : Celui qui avait toujours froid - Comme une odeur de loup - Deux dents, pas plus - L'homme qui savait d'avance - L'Isabelle - La mémoire du bois - Le bout du monde - Le Matagot - Le miroir - Les Gorel - Non pas moi ! - Pris entre dieu et diable - Un exorcisme - Un hasard minutieux
- 1967 : Ce Martin là - Celui qui s'y frotta - L'auberge du Larzac - Le chien pourri - Le dernier visiteur - Le dormeur - Le Hupeur - Le marchand de rats - Le retour à Tiburiac - Les chevaux de la nuit - Les deux plumes - Lou Siblaire - Nuits
- 1969 : Chaque chose à sa place - L'impossédable - L'Odile - La fille gagnée - La vierge maudite - Le venin de l'arbre - Les roses d'en Haut - Une veillée
- 1971 : Le feuillet perdu - Le grand vendu - Un Louis terreux
- 1972 : De qui venait ce sang ?
- 1974 : Il ne faut jamais réveiller les légendes - Huppe et Pupuler - L'oubliette - La panard - La main de pierre - La morsure de Satan - Mais qui est le plus fort ? - Un vieux mélomane - Un viol - Une enfance sorcière - Une santé de cerisier
- Essais
- 1964 : Les évangiles du diable (recueil de légendes rurales sur le diable)
- 1970 : Les loups verts
- Recueils
- 1962 : La Malvenue
- 1962 : Un corbeau de toutes les couleurs
- 1965 : Histoires maléfiques
- 1965 : La Malvenue et autres récits diaboliques
- 1966 : Contes macabres
- 1967 : Les chevaux de la nuit, et autres récits cruels
- 1969 : Histoires vénéneuses
- 1971 : Delphine ou la nuit des Halles
- 1974 : Contes sorciers
- 1979 : Histoires étranges
- 1984 : La nuit des halles
- 1984 : Les malédictions (2 tomes)
- 1985 : Les cercles de la peur
- 1988 : Histoires sorcières
- 1989 : A l'enseigne de l'étrange
- Folklore
En 1997, une réédition de contes a vu le jour sous le titre Contes, récits et légendes des pays de France :
- tome 1 : Bretagne, Normandie, Poitou, Charentes, Guyenne, Gascogne, Pays Basque
- tome 2 : Paris, Ile-de-France, Val de Loire, Berry, Sologne, Limousin
- tome 3 : Provence, Corse, Languedoc-Roussillon, Alpes, Auvergne
- tome 4 : Nord, Flandres, Artois, Picardie, Champagne, Lorraine, Alsace, Bourgogne, Franche-Comté
