The writer who did not have time to learn the rules of politeness: Who is Boris Vian?

Vian was born on March 10, 1920 in Ville-d'Avray, France. His mother was Yvonne Ramenez, an amateur musician, and his father was Paul Vian, who lived with his family's inheritance. Boris Vian, the second child of a family of four children, spent part of his education at home due to the illnesses that plagued him throughout his childhood.

Boris, who learned to read and write when he was 5 years old, unlike other children, played with paper and pencils and wrote down almost everything that came to his mind. (Some of these papers are exhibited in a modest place that has been turned into a museum in his name.)

Boris Vian (10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath – i.e., writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor, and engineer – who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their release due to their unconventional outlook.

Vian, who caught typhoid fever at the age of 12, suffered the first of a series of heart problems that would continue throughout his life. Vian had a permanent heart condition due to the illnesses he suffered, and this condition continued until the end of his life.

Vian, who attended Lycee Hoche High School between 1932 and 1937, became interested in jazz music in 1936, and a year later he started playing trumpet in the club called Hot Club de France. After graduating from high school, Vian enrolled in Lycee Condrcet, famous as the school where Sartre studied, and studied mathematics there between 1937 and 1939. Vian, who married Michelle Leglise in 1941, received his mining engineer diploma from the university a year later.

He wrote his first novel when he had just finished high school. Young Boris, who wrote articles that drove French bureaucrats crazy in this novel, did not attract much attention in those years, but later this novel aroused great interest.

Boris Vian, who married Michelle Leglise, whom he met in 1940, a year later with great love, received his Mining Engineering Diploma in 1942. Boris, who suddenly found himself in capitalism like every newly graduated young man, started working at a French company called "Office Professional des Industries et des Commerces du Papier et du Carton".

He worked here until he was dismissed in 1947 due to his contradictory stance and harsh comments, and wrote 2 more novels during this time. One year before he was dismissed in 1946, he wrote L'Écume des jours, J'irai cracher sur vos tombes, and L'Automne à Pékin, which were compiled from his previous writings and are also among his most famous novels. He became famous in a short time thanks to these books he wrote when he was only 26 years old, and at the same time, he attracted criticism due to his sharp language and writings related to pataphysical philosophy.

I Spit on Your Graves caused a huge sensation. The work, which sold over 100,000 copies in a short time, attracted the reaction of the French government and was banned, resulting in a fine of 100,000 Francs being imposed on the author. Vian, who wrote I Will Spit on Your Graves under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan, later published four more books, including Red Weed, under the same pseudonym.

Boris Vian, who wrote stories and plays as well as novels, was also on his way to becoming a well-known name in the French jazz scene. Vian, who joined the famous jazz band Claude Abadie, played a major role in the development of jazz music in this country with the articles he wrote for French jazz magazines and the translations he made. The author, who had a great love with the Swedish dancer Ursula Kübler, whom he met at a musical event held in 1950, left his wife to be with Kübler and married the Swedish dancer in 1954.

The famous author, who published his last novel in 1953, stopped writing novels after the negative criticism the novel received and did not produce a new work except an expanded version of Autumn in Beijing, published in 1956.

Although he was in danger after suffering from pulmonary edema in 1956, he managed to overcome this disease; but he did not compromise on his stressful lifestyle.

Boris Vian was only 39 years old when he died of a heart attack on June 23, 1959, at the premiere of the movie based on his novel I Will Spit on Your Graves, at the Cinéma Marbeufte, one of Paris's famous show venues.

Boris Vian, who has fit a considerable number of novels and articles into his 39 years of life, is still the first person that comes to mind when writing articles related to pataphysical philosophy.