Emmanuel Bove (20 April 1898 – 19 July 1945) was a
French writer, who also published under the pseudonyms of Pierre Dugast and Jean Vallois.
Life and career
Emmanuel Bove was born Emmanuel Bobovnikoff on 20 April 1898 in
Paris to a
Jewish father who migrated from
Ukraine and a
Luxembourgish mother. He studied at the Ecole alsacienne and the lycée Calvin de Genève. At the age of 14, he decided to become a novelist. In 1915, he was sent to
boarding school in
England, where he completed his education. Returning to Paris in 1916, he found himself in a precarious situation.
In 1921, he married Suzanne Vallois and moved to the suburbs of
Vienna. There he began his writing career, publishing numerous popular novels under the pseudonym Jean Vallois. He returned to Paris in 1922 and worked as a journalist. His work came to the attention of
Colette, who helped him publish his first novel under his own name, Mes amis (My Friends) in 1924. The novel became a success and he consistently published until the
Second World War, winning the prix Figuière in 1928.
In 1940, he was mobilized as a laborer and hoped to be able to flee to
London. He was unable to publish during the
Occupation. He managed to escape to
Algiers in 1942, where he wrote his three final novels: le Piège, Départ dans la nuit and Non-lieu.
He returned to Paris in poor health from diseases caught during his
Algerian exile. He died in Paris on July 19, 1945, from
Cachexia and
heart failure.