Marcel Aymé, writer (1902-1967)

Even though, strictly speaking, Marcel Aymé was not a native of the Franche-Comté, we can say that he is an adoptive son of the region. On the death of his mother when he was 2 years old he was placed in the care of his grand parents living in Villers-Robert in the Jura. His aunt being corset-maker in Dôle, Marcel completed his studies there. He could have gone on to do advanced studies at l'Ecole Polytechnique or become a doctor, instead, he chose to become a writer. His first novel Brûlebois tells the story of a baggage porter at the railway station of Dôle and was a resounding success. In 1927 he was awarded the Prix Renaudot for his La table aux crevés. This author of other well-known novels as La Jument verte, Uranus, Contes du chat perché or Passe-muraille was also an outstanding writer of dialogue for the cinema and subsequently, toward the end of his life, for the theatre. He was at once the author fêted in Montmartre and by Parisian society and the writer who recounted vivid tales of life in the small city of Dôle.