René Barjavel

Personal Info

Known For Writer

Gender Male

Birthday 1911-01-24

Deathday 1985-11-24 (74 years old)

Place of Birth Nyons, Drôme, France

René Barjavel

Biography

René Barjavel (24 January 1911 – 24 November 1985) was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeastern France. He is best known as a science fiction author, whose work often involved the fall of civilisation due to technocratic hubris and the madness of war, but who also favoured themes emphasising the durability of love. René Barjavel wrote several novels with these themes, such as Ravage (translated as Ashes, ashes), Le Grand Secret, La Nuit des temps (translated as The Ice People), and Une rose au paradis. His writing is poetic, dreamy and sometimes philosophical. Some of his works have their roots in an empirical and poetic questioning of the existence of God (notably La Faim du tigre). He was also interested in the environmental heritage which we leave to future generations. Whilst his works are rarely taught in French schools, his books are very popular in France. Barjavel wrote Le Voyageur imprudent (1943), the first novel to present the famous Grandfather paradox of time travel: if one goes backwards in time and kills one of their ancestors before he had children, the traveller cannot exist and therefore cannot kill the ancestor. Barjavel died in 1985 and was buried with his ancestors in Tarendol (commune) cemetery, opposite Mount Ventoux in Provence. He used these place names in his books; Mount Ventoux appears as the site of the space base in Colomb de la lune, for example, and Tarendol is the name of the hero in the eponymous novel. Source: Article "René Barjavel" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known For

Writer

1989
Le Grand Secret

as Writer

1989
Le Grand Secret

as Author

1969
Katmandu

as Novel

1963
Highway Pick-Up

as Adaptation

1963
Highway Pick-Up

as Dialogue

1960
The High Life

as Writer

1959
An Angel on Wheels

as Screenplay

1958
Les Misérables

as Writer

1958
Toto in Paris

as Screenplay

1958
1958
Love on the Riviera

as Screenplay

1958
Toto in Paris

as Story

1957
1957
1956
Bold Adventure

as Writer

1956
The Terror with Women

as Adaptation

1955
The Ragpickers of Emmaus

as Scenario Writer

1954
1953

Actor

1975
Apostrophes

as Self

1971
Samedi soir

as Self

Creator

1980
Tarendol

as Creator