1897 b. Paris; Oct 3rd as Louis Andrieux. French - Poet - Writer and editor. Raised by his mother and maternal grandmother; believing them to be his sister and foster mother, respectively. His biological father, Louis Andrieux, a former senator for Forcalquier, was married and thirty years older than Aragon's mother. Aragon graduated from Lycee Carnot, then studied medicine in Sorbonne.
==1920's== ==1930's== ==1940's== ==1950's== 1916 Meets and has brief affair with Pierre Drieu La Rochelle . 1917 Drafted in World War 1; served in the Val-de-Grace military hospital. There he met Andre Breton who introduced him to Guillaume Apollinaire and together with Paul Eluard and Philippe Soupault became close friends. 1918 discovers Lautreamont. 1919 - 1924 Edited Litterature with Andre Breton and Philippe Soupault. Attends a reception given for Gaston Gallimard. With Andre Breton publishes in Litterature the poems of Isidore Ducasse against opposition by Max Jacob and Pierre Reverdy. Meets Elizabeth Eyre, possibly at Adrienne Monnier's bookshop. She becomes his secret muse. First Meets Pablo Picasso. ==1920's==]] 1920 Feb. Appeared onstage for a Dada presentation with Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Tristan Tzara and Andre Breton at Leo Poldes' Club du Faubourg. Published collection of poems Feu de joie (Bonfire); with a Drawing by Pablo Picasso. Having been involved in Dadaism he became a founding member of Surrealism with Andre Breton and Philippe Soupault under the pen-name "Aragon". May; Contributes to Projecteur - Celine Arnauld. Summer in Brittany; corresponds with Ezra Pound. Dec; writes about the vernissage of the Francis Picabia exhibition at Povolozky's Galerie La Cible. 1921 Meets Antonin Artaud. April; photo in front of Notre-Dame: Jean Crotti, Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Benjamin Peret, Theodor Fraenkel, Louis Aragon, Tristan Tzara, Jacques Rigaut Philippe Soupault, d'Esparlies. Meets Roger Vitrac and Jacques Baron. May; Vernissage for the first exhibition of Max Ernst in Paris carefully prepared by himself Andre Breton and Simone Kahn. Defender in the Dadaist trial of Maurice Barres. June; Soiree Dada. Coeur A Gaz by Tristan Tzara, performed by Aragon, Tzara, Philippe Soupault, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Theodor Fraenkel and Benjamin Peret. 1922 At The Rendezvous of Friends - Max Ernst. Met Man Ray, and meets Pierre Brasseur who introduces him to Andre Breton. Re Meets Elizabeth Eyre on her return from America. July; family holiday in the Tyrol. Sept.; visits Berlin. Dec; meets Denise Levy on her visit to Paris and starts a long correspondence with her. 1923 brief affair with Clothilde Vail, sister in law of Peggy Guggenheim. July; assists Tristan Tzara with Soiree du Coeur a barbe?. Aug; In Strasbourg; meets up with Marcel Noll and Maxime Alexandre who in Oct accompagnies him to Paris. Adviser to Paris couturier Jacques Doucet, Aragon helped establish the Fonds Doucet, a collection of documents on modern literature. 1924 Photographed with [Jacques Baron], Raymond Queneau, Andre Breton, Jacques-Andre Boiffard, Giorgio de Chirico, Roger Vitrac, Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault, Robert Desnos, Pierre Naville, Simone Collinet-Breton, Max Morise and Marie-Louise Soupault. Publishes Une Vague de reves which could be considered an alternative manifesto. Aug; holidays at the house of chez Pierre Drieu La Rochelle near Biarritz. Contributes to Un cadavre with Have you ever slapped a dead man? on the death of Anatole France. This directly leads to him being dismissed by Jacques Doucet. Involved with Andre Breton and Francis Gerard in the office of Surrealistic research. 1925 Signed the Declaration of January 27 1925. March; starts affair with Elizabeth Eyre which lasts for the rest of the year. She is the muse for Le sentiment de la nature aux Buttes-Chaumont reproduced in Le Paysan de Paris. April; Lectures at Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid, June; Part of the riot at the Saint-Pol Roux? banquet. 1926 Started two-year affair with Nancy Cunard; together they visit London and Brittany. Feb; Reaches new agreement with Jacques Doucet. May; with Andre Breton writes a Protestation against Max Ernst and Joan Miro for designing for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Writes preface to catalogue of Pierre Roy's first solo exhibition. July; Publication of Paysan de Paris some of whose themes were inspired by Guillaume Apollinaire's Mamelles de Tresias. Nov; with Nancy Cunard, visits Le Boeuf sur le Toit. 1927 Jan; joined the Communist Party together with Marcel Duhamel, Paul Eluard, Michel Leiris, Jacques Prevert, Yves Tanguy, Pierre Unik, and Andre Breton. Authors much of, and signs the Manifesto Hands Off Love in defense of Charlie Chaplin. Publishes Voyageur anonymously with Hours Press. Nov; Madrid with Nancy Cunard; destroys his 1,500 page manuscript Defense de l'infini. Nancy saved as much as possible. 1928 Suicide attempt while in Venice with Nancy Cunard. End of the affair. Met his future wife Elsa Triolet. Published Traite du style (Treatise on Style,) attacking the establishment. Publishes Le con d'Irene illustrated by Andre Masson. 1929 Translated La Chasse au Snarke printed and published by Hours Press - Nancy Cunard. Introduced to Luis Bunuel by Man Ray. Publishes La Grande Gaete with illustrations by Yves Tanguy. Book 1929 together with Benjamin Peret and with photographs by Man Ray; published in Brussels by Paul-Gustave van Hecke. ==1930's== 1930 Contributed to Le Surrealisme au service de la revolution?. Traveled to the Soviet Union on the invitation from Maxim Gorky. 1931 incendiary poem Front Rouge which called for a revolution in France and brought him a suspended prison sentence. 1932 Final break with the Surrealists. 1933 Began to write for the party's newspaper, L'Humanite. 1934 Publishes Hourra l'Oural with dedication to Elsa Triolet. 1935 World Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture. Travels to Prague with Breton and meets Toyen and Jindrich Styrsky. 1936 Single issue Inquisitions with Tristan Tzara, Roger Caillois, Bachelard and Jules Monnerot. Designed for Elsa Schiaparelli. 1937 Became effectual director of the Commune along with Andre Gide, Romain Rolland and . July; traveled to Madrid and Valencia to attend 2nd. International Writers Congress for the Defense of Culture. 1937 - 1953 Director and editor of Ce Soir along with the writer Jean-Richard Bloch. 1939 Ce soir banned and was re-opened after the Liberation. Married Elsa Triolet. 1939 Mobilized and awarded the Croix de guerre (War Cross) and the military medal for acts of bravery. ==1940's== 1940 Evacuated to England from Dunkirk. With his unit was sent back to Brest where they were captured. He escaped and took refuge in the Southern Zone meeting up again with Elsa. Aragon and Triolet worked with the left-wing French media before and during World War II, going underground for most of the Nazi occupation. Joined the Resistance, both through literary activities and as an actual organiser of Resistance acts. During the war Aragon wrote for the underground press Les Editions de Minuit and was a member of the National Front Resistance movement. He participated with his wife in the setting-up of the National Front of
Writers
in the Southern Zone.
This activism led him to break his friendly relationship with Pierre Drieu La Rochelle,
who had chosen Collaborationism.
==1950's==
1950 Was elected to the central committee of the PCF.
1954 Wrote Strophes pour se souvenir in commemoration of the role of
foreigners in the Resistance, which celebrated the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans
de la Main d'Oeuvre Immigree (FTP-MOI).
1953 Became the director of L'Humanite 's literary supplement, Les Lettres
francaises, assisted by its chief editor, Pierre Daix.
1956 Aragon supported the Budapest insurrection and was granted the Lenin
Peace Prize.
Critical of the USSR after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1962? Aragon and Andre Maurois published their "Parallelled History" of the Soviet
Union and the United States.
1970 On the death of his wife Elsa; Aragon came out as bisexual, appearing
at gay pride parades in a pink convertible.
1971? He published a comprehensive biography of Henri Matisse.
1982 d. on 24 December his friend Jean Ristat sitting up with him.
He was buried in the parc of Moulins de Villeneuve, in his property of Saint-
Arnoult-en-Yvelines along his wife Elsa Triolet.
See online -> and also and wiki ->.
See Timeline.