Curval, Philippe
Entry updated 20 November 2023. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of French author, journalist and artist Philippe Tronche (1929-2023). From around 1956 Curval was central to the growth of sf in France as bookseller, magazine editor, photographer, chronicler and author. He was a fine stylist whose works, though often they are couched as Satires, are exemplified by a sensual, poetic mood and great affection for his characters. He wrote over thirty stories, beginning with "L'oeuf d'Elduo" ["Elduo's Egg"] in Fiction for December 1955. Le ressac de l'espace ["The Breakers of Space"] (1962) won the Prix Jules Verne in 1963 and L'homme à rebours ["Backwards Man"] (1974) was selected as Best French SF Novel of 1974. Cette chère humanité (1976; trans by Steve Cox as Brave Old World 1981), which won the 1977 Prix Apollo (see Awards), examines the effects of lifespan extension (through the Invention of "slow-time") upon an EEC isolated for decades behind an artificial barrier. [MJ/JC]
Philippe Tronche
born Paris: 27 December 1929
died ?Paris: 5 August 2023
works (selected)
- Les fleurs de Vénus ["Flowers of Venus"] (Paris: Gallimard/Le Rayon Fantastique, 1960) [pb/Jean-Claude Forest]
- Le ressac de l'espace ["The Breakers of Space"] (Paris: Gallimard/Le Rayon Fantastique, 1962) [pb/Jean-Claude Forest]
- La fortresse de coton ["The Cotton Fortress"] (Paris: Gallimard, 1967) [pb/]
- Les sables de Falun ["The Sands of Falun"] (Paris: Opta, 1970) [pb/Michel Desimon]
- Attention les yeux ["Watch Out!"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1973) [pb/]
- L'homme à rebours ["Backwards Man"] (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1974) [pb/]
- Cette chère humanité (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1976) [in the publisher's Ailleurs et demain series: pb/]
- Brave Old World (London: Allison and Busby, 1981) [trans by Steve Cox of the above: hb/from Max Ernst]
- Un soupçon de neant ["A Hint of Nothingness"] (Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1977) [pb/W Siudmak]
- Y a quelqu'un? ["Anybody Home?"] (Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1979) [pb/]
- Le dormeur s'eveillera-t-il? ["Will the Sleeper Awake?"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1979) [pb/]
- Ah! Que c'est beau New York! ["Ah! New York is so Beautiful!"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1979) [pb/]
- Rut aux etoiles ["The Astral Mating Season"] (Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1979) [pb/W Siudmak]
- La Face cachée du désir ["The Dark Side of Desire"] (Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1980) [pb/]
- L'Odeur de la bête ["The Scent of the Beast"] (Paris: Jean-Claude Lattès, 1981) [pb/Stéphane Dumont]
- Tous vers l'exstase ["All Together to Ecstasy"] (Paris: Jean-Claude Lattès, 1981) [pb/Jean-Michel Nicollet]
- En souvenir du futur ["Remembrance of Time to Come"] (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1982) [pb/]
- Comment jouer a L'homme invisible en trois leçons ["How to Play The Invisible Man in Three Lessons"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1986) [pb/Bertrand Bataille]
- Akiloë (Paris: Flammarion, 1988) [pb/]
- Gillet (Paris: L'Amateur, 1994) with Roger-Edgar Gillet [hb/Roger-Edgar Gillet]
- L'Éternité n'est pas la vie ["Eternity Is not Life"] (Paris: Julliard, 1995) [pb/]
- Les Évadés du mirage ["The Escapees from the Mirage"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1995) [pb/]
- L'Arc Tendu du désir ["The Strung Bow of Desire"] (Paris: L'Astronaute mort, 1995) [chap: pb/nonpictorial]
- Voyance aveugle ["Blind Clairvoyance"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1998) [pb/Hubert de Lartigue]
- Macno emmerde la mort (Paris: éditions La Baleine, 1998) [MACNO is an acronym for "Magasin des Armes, Cycles et Narrations Obliques": pb/]
- Voyage a l'envers (Paris: éditions J'AI LU, 2000) [pb/]
collections and stories
- Regarde, fiston, s'il y a un extra-terrestre derriere la bouteille de vin ["Take a Look, Boy, If There's an Alien Behind the Wine Bottle"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1980) [coll: pb/Stéphane Dumont]
- Le Livre d'or de la science fiction: Philippe Curval ["The Golden Book of Science Fiction: Philippe Curval"] (Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1980) [coll: pb/Marcel Laverdet]
- Debout les morts, le train fantôme entre la gare ["On your Feet, Dead Men, the Phantom Train is Pulling in"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1984) [coll: pb/Gilles Decock]
- Habite-t-on reellement quelque part? ["Do We Really Live Somewhere?"] (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1990) [coll: pb/Daniel Furon]
works as editor
- Futurs au Présent (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1978) [anth: pb/Stéphane Dumont]
links
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