Claire Malroux
{{Short description|French poet, essayist and translator (1925–2025)}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name = Claire Malroux
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| birth_name = Josette Andrée Malroux
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|09|03|df=y}}
| birth_place = Albi, France
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|02|04|1925|09|03|df=y}}
| death_place = Sèvres, France
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| occupation = Poet, translator
| language = French
| nationality = French
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| alma_mater = École Normale Supérieure
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| awards = Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur
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Claire Malroux (3 September 1925 – 4 February 2025) was the pen name of French poet, essayist and translator Josette Andrée Malroux. Malroux published a dozen poetry collections and also served as the French translator for notable American poets such as Emily Dickinson and Wallace Stevens.{{cite web |title=Claire Malroux |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/claire-malroux |website=Poetry Foundation |access-date=8 August 2022}} Malroux's own poetry has been translated into English by Marilyn Hacker.{{cite web |title=Claire Malroux |url=https://www.nyrb.com/collections/claire-malroux |website=New York Review of Books |access-date=8 August 2022}}
Background
Malroux was born on 3 September 1925 in France in Albi, Tarn département.{{cite web |title=Claire Malroux |url=https://www.babelio.com/auteur/Claire-Malroux/59089 |website=Babelio |access-date=6 December 2022}} She studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Malroux was a teenager during World War II. Her father was Augustin Malroux, a socialist, teacher and member of the French Resistance, which led to his arrest, deportation and death during the war.{{cite journal |last1=Hacker |first1=Marilyn |title=How Claire Malroux's Translations of Emily Dickinson Shaped Her Own Poetry |journal=Lit Hub |date=9 November 2020 |url=https://lithub.com/how-claire-malrouxs-translations-of-emily-dickinson-shaped-her-own-poetry/ |access-date=8 August 2022}}
Malroux died in Sèvres on 4 February 2025, at the age of 99.{{cite web |title=Josette Andree Malroux |url=https://deces.matchid.io/id/Wq4S6atfcugJ |website=MatchID |access-date=19 March 2025}}
Career
Malroux published 12 volumes of poetry, in addition to two "hybrid prose works." Four of those volumes (Edge, A Long-Gone Sun, Birds and Bison and Daybreak) have been translated into English by Hacker.{{cite web |title=Claire Malroux |url=https://plumepoetry.com/author/malroux-claire/ |website=Plume Poetry |access-date=8 August 2022}} Her 1998 work Soleil de jadis: recit poeme tells the story of World War II from a child's perspective through poetry.
Malroux translated the works of numerous English-language poets into French, but cited Emily Dickinson as one of the most impactful, describing it as the "awakening of a personal affinity." In 1999, she was awarded the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur for her translation work.{{cite web |title=Décret du 31 décembre 1999 portant promotion et nomination |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000580150 |website=Legifrance |access-date=8 August 2022}}
References
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