PAUL LÉAUTAUD
(1872-1956)
I learned about the French author Paul Léautaud through the Dutch serie of the Arbeiderspers called Privé Domein. This serie includes some of the finest autobiographical literature by authors from all over the world.
Paul Léautaud was born on 18 January 1872 as son of Firmin Léautaud (prompter) and Jeanne Forestier (actress). The family didn's stay long together. The first to leave was his mother, whose place was taken by her sister and after her others. Soon after his mother left, little Paul was given to the care of an old former prostitute, Marie Pezée. She in fact raised Paul Léautaud.
When Paul went to school he went to live with his father, but they didn't built a strong relationship. Paul's most loyal compagnion was the dog Tabac (so named for the colour of his fur). The dog was sent to accompagny him on all his walks through the neighbourhood, to prevent something would happen to him. This was already so in the days he lived with Marie Pezée, and continued when he returned to live with his father.
After his mother left him just after he was born, she came back on a few occasions. Especially the last time in his youth impressed him. He went to visit her in her hotelroom, where she lay halfnaked in her bed and pressed him against her breast. They also took a tour through the Parisian red light district.
1882 saw the family moving to the Parisian suburb Courbevoie. When Paul finished elementary school in 1887, his father decided it was the best for him to find a job, so the family would have some extra money. In 1896 he left the elderly home permanently. He already had spent some nights elsewhere after rows with his father and his mistress. He got his steady job at the publishing house Le Mercure de France in 1908 after umpteenth jobs and working there on a non-permanent base. Officially he was a secretary, but it was obvious they gave him the job to provide him with a steady income, so he could write. His job consisted of sending proves to authors, checking corrections, distributing the mail and returning manuscripts. He was very free in his job, as he more than once spent most of the day elsewhere.
Paul's greatest love were animals. He always had at least one in his house. During his lifetime he had about 300 cats, 150 dogs, a goose, a goat and a monkey as pets. Sometimes there were more than 50 animals in the house. One should therefore not be surprised that his greatest worry was how to feed all these animals. All of his income was spent to feed his pets and most of the day he was busy to gather it. He even went so far as to sell his correspondance with Paul Valéry, a portret by Matisse and signed first editions of famous authors he got for his work at the Mercure, to have money to feed his animals. He got his house in Fontenay-aux-Roses because his then girlfriend Blanche Blanc told him that if he brought one more animal with him, she would part. That same evening she packed her bags and left the house, because he brought another dog with him. Apart from his own animals, he also fed cats that lived in the Parisian parks and wherever he encountered one.
From 1912 onwards Léautaud lived in the Parisian suburb Fontenay-aux-Roses, where he lived untill he died. Almost daily he took the train to his work in the center of Paris.
Léautaud wrote a diary from November 3, 1893 until February 17, 1956 five days before he died. These diaries are divided into two separate ones, Journal littéraire and Journal particulier, of which the first contains notes on his literary life at Mercure de France while in the latter he describes his relationship with women, notably Le Fléau (the whipp).
Léautaud never was married but (or because of that) he had a turbulant lovelife, as one may find in his dairies. The most important affairs were with Jeanne Marié (1889-1893, the love of his youth in Courbevoie and later Paris), Georgette Crozier (1894-1895), Blanche Blanc (1897-1914), Anne Cayssac (1914-1933 and better known as Le Fléau or Le Panthère and Marie Dormoy (the editor of his Journal littéraire, their affair became public only after she died).
Everyone who wants to find out more about Paul Léautaud should read his books.