Claude Aveline (1901–1992)

Claude Aveline was born Evgen or Eugène Avtsine to Russian Jewish parents who had fled the persecution of Jews in their native country and settled in France ten years earlier. He studied at the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris and then at a school in Versailles. During World War I, he volunteered as a medic and then attended college in Paris; but had to drop out due to poor health. In 1918-1919, he lived near Cannes in southeast France, where he began to write under the pen name Claude Aveline. In 1919, his poems were first published in magazines, and he was introduced to writer Anatole France, becoming his protégé and close friend. In 1920, he returned to Paris, where he worked as an editor of an art journal and wrote a book about the Buddha. In 1922, at age 21, he founded his own publishing house and was known as the youngest publisher in France. His ill health sent Aveline to a prolonged stay at a health clinic in Font-Romeu, where he met and befriended the young Jean Vigo, who later became a film director. Later Aveline would found the Prix Jean Vigo given to young film directors and serve as president of the jury board for 25 years. In 1932, Aveline published the detective novel La Double Mort de Frédéric Belot, which was a great success, followed by Le Prisonnier (The Prisoner, 1936). He described the events of the Spanish Civil War and contributed to numerous left-wing and anti-fascist journals and publications in the 1930s. Following the German invasion of France in World War II, Aveline joined the French Resistance and wrote under the pseudonym Minervous. His short story "Dead Time" (1944) described the courage of the French patriots. In 1952, Aveline won the Grand Prix of the Société des gens de lettres and in 1955 the Prix Italia for his creative work in radio dramas. He also wrote for films and television.