Robert Giraud
| Robert Giraud | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 November 1921 Nantiat (Haute-Vienne) France |
| Died | 17 January 1997 (aged 75) January 17, 1997 in Nanterre Nanterre, France |
| Occupation | Journalist, Poet |
Robert Giraud (November 21, 1921 – January 17, 1997), was a French journalist, poet and lexicographer. He is the author of over 30 books and subject of the 2009 biography Monsieur Bob by Olivier Bailly.
Robert Giraud lived his childhood and youth in Limoges. He followed his education in lycée Gay-Lussac and began to study law. He was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis only to escape the death sentence thanks to the liberation of the city by the forces of Colonel Georges Guingouin.
In 1944 he became editor of the newspaper Unir (Unite), join the French Resistance and went to Paris with the editorial team which included the journalist and future editor René Rougeri.
In Paris he quickly became a regular at the bar l'Institut run by Mr. Fraysse where be befriended the regulars including Maximilien Vox, the Prévert brothers (Pierre and Jacques Prévert), Albert Vidalie, Maurice Baquet and especially the photographer Robert Doisneau. Giraud works for antiquarian 'Romi' whose shop by the Seine was frequented by Robert Doisneau, who made a series of photos there, and police inspector and future historian Jacques Delarue. He contributed to Franc-Tireur, Paris-Presse, France-Soir and Détective, before he turned to earning a meager living as a book seller alongside other future writers including Michel Ragon before his successful career as a novelist and art critic and the journalists Pierre Mérindol and Jean-Paul Clébert (author of Paris insolite/Unknown Paris).
From the liberation until the mid-1950s Robert Giraud lived a meager material existence but this proved to be a very rewarding time for his work. He visited and befriended many homeless people (or clochards as referred to in French), pimps, prostitutes and eccentric former convicts who inhabited various unknown areas of Paris near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Place Maubert, the rue Mouffetard or Halles. He brought his friend Robert Doisneau to explore this underworld which led to a beautiful series of portraits of unusual Parisian characters. Giraud immersed himself in the culture of the clochards and was fascinated by everything from the unusual tattoos to unique slang. He famously described them as follows:
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