Marcel Pagnol - French Novelist

Marcel Pagnol (February 28, 1895 – April 18, 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, et filmmaker. In 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie Française.

He learned how to read at a young age to his father's amazement mais his mère did not allow him to touch un livre until he was six "for fear of cerebral explosion".

At the age of 15, he wrote his first play and, after winning a prestigious scholarship to the Lycee, eventually followed in the footsteps of his père to become an English teacher for secondary schools. However, he stopped teaching when he went to Paris, instead devoting his life to playwriting. His first adult play, Merchants of Glory, was produced in 1924. In 1929 he wrote Marius for the Paris Theatre. Marius would also be later turned into a film in 1931, Pagnol's first film.

Panol adapted his own film "Manon des Sources", which starred his femme, into deux novels collectively titled "L'eau des Collines". Those were in turn adapted back to international acclaim in the 1980's by filmaker Claude Berri as "Jean de Florette" & "Manon des Sources".

My favorite quote of his is:

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be”

et (ay) -and

mais (may) -but

six (seece) -six

mère (mehr)
-mother

un livre (uhn lee vruh) -a book

père (pehr) -father

femme (fehm) -wife

deux (doo) -two