Mickael Korvin Explained

Mickael Korvin
Birth Name:Mickael Korvin
Notableworks:Journal d'une cause perdue
Citizenship:United States

Mickael Korvin is a Franco-American author and translator. He is the creator of a French spelling reform called "nouvofrancet",[1] an extremely simplified orthography for French.

Works

Fluent in the English and French languages, Korvin has alternated between writing novels in French and English, and translating foreign texts into French. His early work, Le boucher du Vaccarès (1990) and Je, Toro (1991) revisited the nouveau roman in an attempt to break what Korvin saw as the reigning nostalgia in contemporary French letters. Korvin's translations include Iggy Pop's I Need More and 19th-century American anarchist Lysander Spooner's Vices Are Not Crimes. Korvin formerly worked in advertising and journalism, but subsequently became a full-time writer and linguist.[2] He is also a dealer in antique toys and art brut from his stall in the les Puces flea-market in Saint-Ouen, northern Paris.[3]

Spelling reform

In early 2012, Korvin published a novel, Journal d'une cause perdue, which formed part of his campaign (which he called 'korvinism') to abolish accents, capital letters and all punctuation from written language, specifically the French language.[4] His campaign gained notoriety in France as a result of a promotional video Korvin filmed with Franco-Algerian rapper Morsay, during which the rapper threatened to sexually violate grammarian and member of the Académie française Érik Orsenna.[5] During the video, Korvin called Orsenna a "dictator of grammar" who is "killing the French language."[6] The video was filmed in Les Puces, a flea-market in the Saint-Ouen area of Paris. An article on the website of French culture magazine L'Express called Korvin's intervention "fleas against the Académie française" (Les puces contre L'Académie française), while the same article compared Korvin's stance in Journal d'une cause perdue to Queneau, Apollinaire, Perec and Tristan Tzara.[7] An article in le Nouvel Observateur compared Korvin's stance on punctuation with those of Georges Perec, Mathias Énard and Philippe Sollers.[8] When contacted for a response to Korvin's position, Orsenna's publicist, in an attempt to put an end to the feud, provided a brief statement suited to the author of An Elegy for Punctuation: "full stop".

Korvin subsequently proposed himself for membership of the Académie, in a public letter that was published on the website of L'Express. The controversy was also covered by the magazine Les Inrocks[9] and the daily newspaper Libération.[10] In mid-April 2012 another video was posted online, in which Korvin and Morsay, wearing balaclavas and calling themselves the "front intl de libération de la langue française", humiliated the broadcaster and writer Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, calling him a plagiarist — referring to accusations that Poivre d'Arvre, who has also been nominated for membership of the Académie plagiarized portions of his recent biography of Ernest Hemingway from another work[11] [12] — and the Machiavelli of the media.[13] On April 19, 2012, Korvin was officially listed as a candidate to the Académie.[14] [15] On April 26, 2012, following the vote to fill another empty chair at the Académie,[16] [17] at the fourth vote, Poivre d'Arvor only received the votes of two academicians,[18] including one from Erik Orsenna.[19] On that same day, Korvin, published a manifesto for the simplification of French on L'Express titled j'abuse[20] in reference to the J'Accuse...![21] by Émile Zola, published on January 13, 1898.

In the beginning of 2016, Korvin published his ninth novel,[22] L'homme qui se croyait plus beau qu'il n'était at which occasion he also introduced his nouvofrancet (a very simplified alternative to traditional French spelling) under the alternative title  - lom qi se croyet plubo qil netet  - which is the same as the paper format, but using the simplified spelling that he had proposed.

Bibliography

Novels

Translations

Other writings

Visual art

Notes and References

  1. Web site: "(H)EARING HIPPOS". https://web.archive.org/web/20200106195322/http://www.amritas.com/191207.htm. dead. 2020-01-06. 2020-01-06. Amritas.
  2. Web site: Le bouchrt du Vaccarès - Le napo . Jacquelinechambon.fr . 2012-05-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120528111504/http://jacquelinechambon.fr/Editions_Jacqueline_Chambon/Le_boucher_du_Vaccares_-_Le_napo.html . 2012-05-28 .
  3. Web site: Ali baba's Cavern - Marché des rues - Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen - Les Marchands . Marcheauxpuces-saintouen.com . 2012-05-26 . 2014-03-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140314135032/http://www.marcheauxpuces-saintouen.com/5.aspx?ProdID=4e851d23-b1fa-4b06-b136-fd5691981265&CatID=75f8e8e8-d3a6-49bd-8bf1-82f11beb6549&sr=0&page=1 . dead .
  4. News: Bonheurs et malheurs des écrivain(e)s - Arts & Spectacles - France Culture . France Culture . Franceculture.fr . 2012-04-06 . 2012-05-26.
  5. Web site: File | Thesis | ID: Hx11xk26x | Carolina Digital Repository .
  6. Web site: Erik Orsenna menacé de mort et de viol . Actualitte.com . 2012-05-26.
  7. Web site: Mickael Korvin et Morsay pensent qu'Erik Orsenna est le "tueur" du français - L'EXPRESS . . 23 March 2012. 2012-05-26.
  8. Web site: Par BibliObs . Deux rappeurs et un écrivain menacent de violer Reik Orsenna - Bibliobs . Bibliobs.nouvelobs.com . 2012-03-20 . 2012-05-26.
  9. Web site: Faut-il exorciser l'Académie? . Les Inrocks . 2012-05-20 . 2012-05-26.
  10. Web site: Par Sarah Bosquet . Korvin et Morsay forcenés d'Orsenna - Libération . Liberation.fr . 2012-05-26.
  11. Web site: Plaidoyer pour Patrick Poivre d'Académicien | Slate . Slate.fr . 2012-04-26 . 2012-05-26.
  12. Web site: Patrick Poivre d'Arvre convaincu de plagiat avec sa bio d'Hemingway - L'EXPRESS . Lexpress.fr . 4 January 2011. 2012-05-26.
  13. Web site: PPDA, nouvelle cible de Morsay et Korvin – Critiques littéraires : Actualité livres | MyBOOX . Myboox.fr . 2012-03-21 . 2012-05-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120702163336/http://www.myboox.fr/actualite/ppda-nouvelle-cible-de-morsay-et-korvin--14261.html . 2012-07-02 .
  14. Web site: Actualités . . 2012-05-26.
  15. Web site: Gonzague Saint Bris, candidat à l'Académie française pour la 3e fois . FRANCE 24 . 2012-04-20 . 2012-05-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120615224120/http://www.france24.com/fr/20120420-gonzague-saint-bris-candidat-a-lacademie-francaise-3e-fois . 2012-06-15 .
  16. Web site: Les défis qui confrontent l'Académie française (Fr). Davies. Peter.
  17. https://tidsskrift.dk/passage/article/download/6669/14489
  18. Web site: Actualité, Dépêches . fr . La-Croix.com . 2012-05-26 . dead . https://archive.today/20130127081050/http://www.la-croix.com/Depeches . 2013-01-27 .
  19. Web site: Programmes TV - PPDA peut l'compter sur Erik Orsenna - People - Le Figreo TV . Tvmag.lefigaro.fr . 16 March 2012. 2012-05-26.
  20. Web site: Mickael Korvin veut simplifire la langue française . Enviedecrire.com . 30 April 2012. 2012-05-26.
  21. Web site: J'accuse ...! . Émile. Zola. Émile Zola. Wikisource . 1898-01-13 . 2012-05-26.
  22. Web site: Eden Livres, "L'homme qui se croyait plus beau qu'il n'était", "Le Serpent à plumes", publications - vitrine.edenlivres.fr . 2016-01-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160129060937/https://vitrine.edenlivres.fr/publications/165577-l-homme-qui-se-croyait-plus-beau-qu-il-n-etait . 2016-01-29 .
  23. Web site: Mémoires de Bison: Quatre-vingt-dix Chapitres d'une Vie. 13 March 2017.
  24. Web site: L'Homme qui se croyait plus beau qu'il n'était – Mickaël Korvin. March 2017.
  25. Web site: Winners List.
  26. Web site: Winners List.
  27. Web site: Upcoming Events « National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Exhibiti... . https://archive.today/20161118105410/http://inliquid.org/blog/event/national-hunger-and-homelessness-awareness-exhibition-legend-galleries/ . 18 November 2016 . dead.
  28. Web site: Homeless in Philadelphia Art Show benefits Bethedsa Project . Cassie . Hepler. 2016-11-30 . 1998-11-30 . https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/19981130000000/http://philadelphiafreepress.com/homeless-in-philadelphia-art-show-benefits-bethedsa-project-p6507-1.htm . dead .