Sébastien Japrisot

Infobox Writer
name = Jean-Baptiste Rossi


imagesize = 200px
caption = © Cathy Esposito
pseudonym = Sébastien Japrisot, Robert Huart
birthdate = 4 July 1931
birthplace = Marseille, France
deathdate = 4 March 2003
deathplace = Vichy, France
occupation = Author, screenwriter and film director
nationality = French
period =
genre =
subject =
movement =
influences = Lewis Carroll, Ernest Hemmingway, J. D. Salinger
influenced = Thierry Jonquet, Jean-Christophe Grangé


website =

Sébastien Japrisot (4 July 1931 – 4 March 2003) was a French author, screenwriter and film director, born in Marseille. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name. Japrisot has been nicknamed "the Graham Greene of France".

Famous in the Francophony, he was little known in the English-speaking world, though a number of his novels have been translated into English and have been made into films.

Biography

Sébastien Japrisot made his mark as an author at seventeen, when his novel "Les Mal Partis" was published in France and America. He followed this with outstanding translations of J. D. Salinger's novels. He pursued a successful career in advertising and publicity.

In 1962, he had an intriguing idea for a crime novel. As he did not feel easy about his entry into this new field he used an anagram of his own name as his pseudonym. However, the reception of "The 10.30 from Marseille" left no one in doubt that a great crime writer had made his debut. The book was quickly made into a film by Costa-Gavras starring Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Catherine Allégret, Jacques Perrin, etc.

His second mystery was "Trap for Cinderella". This won the Grand Prix de Littérature policière for 1963. The film starred Dany Carrel, and Madeleine Robinson.

He followed this with "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun", which won him a second major French award - Le Prix d'Honneur 1966. In England it won the Crime Writer's Association Silver Dagger awarded for the best Thriller published in the United Kingdom in 1968 by a foreign writer.

He was a scriptwriter and film director. "One Deadly Summer" was made into a film starring Isabelle Adjani. "A Very Long Engagement" was an international bestseller and won the Prix Interallié.

French bibliography

Novels

* "Les Mal Partis" - Prix de l'Unanimité 1966 (as J.-B. Rossi, Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, 1950)
* "Visages de l'amour et de la haine" (as J.-B. Rossi, in "Réalités" n° 57,1950)
* "L'Odyssexe" (illustrated album by Trez, as J.-B. Rossi, Éd. Originale Denoël, 1965)
* "L'Été meurtrier" - Prix des Deux-Magots 1978, Prix de l'Académie suédoise 1978 (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1977). NB : film adaptation by Jean Becker, with Isabelle Adjani, Alain Souchon…
* "La Passion des femmes" (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1986)
* "Un long dimanche de fiançailles", Prix Interallié 1991 (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1991). NB : film adaptation by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Crime novels

* "Compartiment tueurs" (Éd. Originale Denoël, coll. "Crime/club" n° 203, 1962). NB : film adaptation by Costa-Gavras, with Simone Signoret and Yves Montand,
* "Piège pour Cendrillon" - Grand Prix de littérature policière 1963 (Éd. Originale Denoël, coll. "Crime/club" n° 209, 1963). NB : film adaptation by André Cayatte,
* "La Dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil" (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1966). NB : film adaptation by Anatole Litvak.

Screenplays

* "La Machine à parler d'amour" (as J.-B. Rossi, "L'Avant-scène cinéma" n° 66, 01/1967)
* "Adieu l'ami" (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1968). NB : directed by Jean Vautrin, with Charles Bronson and Alain Delon,
* "La Course du lièvre à travers les champs" (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1972). NB : directed by René Clément, with Emmanuelle Béart.
* "Le Passager de la pluie" (Éd. Originale Denoël, 1992). NB : directed by René Clément.

Translations in French

* "Hopalong Cassidy entre en jeu" ("Hopalong Cassidy With the Trail Herd"), novel by Clarence E. Mulford as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 1, 1951)
* "Hopalong Cassidy et la couvée de l’aigle" ("Hopalong Cassidy With the Eagle’s Brood"), novel by Clarence E. Mulford, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 2, 1951).
* "Hopalong Cassidy trouve un double" ("Hopalong Cassidy Returns"), novel by Clarence E. Mulford, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 3, 1951)
* "Hopalong Cassidy : les Hors-la-loi de West Fork" ("Hopalong Cassidy and the Rustlers of West Fork", 1951), novel by Louis L'Amour, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 6, 1951). (NB : the name of the author in the main title is "Tex Burns")
* "Pistes dans la nuit" ("Trails by Night"), novel by Tom J. Hopkins, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 7, 1951).
* "Hopalong Cassidy et les Compagnons du ranch 20" ("Hopalong Cassidy, Bar 20, Rides Again") novel by Clarence E. Mulford, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 8, 1951).
* "Hopalong Cassidy : le Shérif de Twin River" ("Hopalong Cassidy serves a write"), novel by Clarence E. Mulford (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 10, 1952).
* "Hopalong Cassidy : (Meurtres sur) la Piste des sept pins" ("Hopalong Cassidy and the Trail to Seven Pines", 1951), novel by Louis L'Amour, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 11, 1952).
* "La Poursuite blanche" ("Murder in the Outlands"), novel by James Beardsley Hendryx, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 12, 1952).
* "Hopalong Cassidy : Panique à Tasotal" ("Hopalong Cassidy and the Riders of High Rock", 1951), novel by Louis L'Amour as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 14, 1952).
* "Hopalong Cassidy : l’Inquiétant tireur" ("Hopalong Cassidy : Trouble Shooter", 1952), novel by Louis L'Amour, as Robert Huart (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. "Arizona" n° 16, 1953)
* "L'Attrape-Cœurs" ("The Catcher in the Rye", novel by J. D. Salinger (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. « Pavillons », 1953)
* "Mais... qui a tué Harry ?" ("The Trouble with Harry"), novel by Jack Trevor Story (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, 1956)
* "Nouvelles" ("Nine Stories"), J. D. Salinger (Éd. Originale Robert Laffont, coll. « Pavillons », 1961)

Collections

* "Écrit par Jean-Baptiste Rossi" (coéd. Denoël-Éditions Robert Laffont, 1987)
* "Japrisot volume 1" (thriller novels) (Denoël, coll. "Des heures durant", 2003)
* "Japrisot volume 2" (novels) (Denoël, coll. "Des heures durant", 2004)

English translations

Filmography

* 1965 : "Piège pour Cendrillon" aka "Trap for Cinderella" (Screenwriter)
* 1965 : "The Sleeping Car Murders" aka "Compartiment tueurs" (Original Foreign title) (Screenwriter)
* 1968 : "Honor Among Thieves" aka "Adieu l'ami" (Original Foreign title) aka "Farewell, Friend" (UK title) aka "So Long, Friend" (Screenwriter)
* 1970 : "Rider on the Rain" aka "Le Passager de la pluie" (French title) aka "Passenger of the Rain "(Screenwriter)
* 1972 : "La Course du lièvre à travers les champs" aka "And Hope to Die" (U.S. title) (Screenwriter)
* 1975 : "The Story of O" aka "Histoire d'O" (Original Foreign title) (Screenwriter)
* 1975 : "Folle à tuer" aka "Mad Enough To Kill" (Screenwriter)
* 1983 : "One Deadly Summer" aka "L'Été meurtrier" (Original Foreign title) (Screenwriter)
* 1987 : "Juillet en septembre" aka "July In September" [1988] (Director / Screenwriter)
* 1999 : "Les Enfants du marais" aka "Children of the Marshland" (Screenwriter)
* 2001 : "Un crime au Paradis" aka "A Crime In Paradise" (Screenwriter)
* 2004 : "Un long dimanche de fiançailles" aka "A Very Long Engagement" by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director - Filmography

*"Juillet en septembre" (1988)
*"Les mal partis" (as Jean-Baptiste Rossi) - "Bad Starters" (1976)
*"L'idée fixe" (1961)
*"La machine à parler d'amour" (as Jean-Baptiste Rossi) (1961)

Awards

* 1963 : Grand Prix de Littérature policière for "Piège pour Cendrillon" (Denoël, 1963).
* 1966 : Prix de l'Unanimité for "Les Mal Partis"
* 1966 : Prix d'Honneur for "La Dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil"
* 1968 : Gold Dagger Award for the Best Crime Novel of the Year 1968 (Best Foreign) - The Crime Writer's Association for "The Lady in the Car" (Souvenir Press)
* 1978 : Prix des Deux-Magots for "L'Été meurtrier" (Denoël, 1977)
* 1981 : The Martin Beck Award - Svenska Deckarakademin (Académie suédoise) - for "Vedergällningen" (L'Été meurtrier)"
* 1984 : César de la meilleure adaptation cinématographique (Best Original Screenplay) - French Academy of Cinema - for "L'Été meurtrier" (film de Jean Becker, 1983).
* 1991 : Prix Interallié for "Un long dimanche de fiançailles" (Denoël, 1991).
* 1996 : Adult Great Read (Honorable Mention) - Northern California Independent Booksellers Associated (NCIBA) (USA) for "A very long Engagement"

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0418469/ The Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.allmovie.com/ All Movie Guide]