Maurice Valency (22 March 1903 – 28 September 1996) was a playwright, author, critic, and popular professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University, best known for his award-winning adaptations of plays by Jean Giraudoux and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. He wrote several original plays,[1] but is best known for his adaptations of the plays of others. Valency's version of The Madwoman of Chaillot would become the basis of the Jerry Herman musical Dear World on Broadway.
He is also noted for his book The Flower and the Castle: An Introduction to Modern Drama. John Gassner in his review of this book said that Mr. Valency brought to his work "a lifetime of study and experience as well as a viewpoint both Olympian and engaged."[2] Valency also wrote television plays, adaptations of librettos, novels, and academic works on Chekhov, Strindberg, Ibsen and Shaw.
Life
Maurice Valency was educated in New York City, getting a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1923 at City College, and at Columbia University getting a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1927 (Valency was a member of the New York bar), and a Ph.D. in 1938.[3] In 1936 he married the artist Janet Cornell; they remained married for 60 years until Valency's death in New York City at the age of 93.[1]
Valency was a professor of comparative literature at Columbia and also taught dramatic literature at Juilliard and at Brooklyn College.[3] He spoke seven languages.[2]
Awards
New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best foreign play, 1949, for his adaptation of The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux[4]
New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best foreign play, 1954, for his adaptation of Ondine by Jean Giraudoux[4]
New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best foreign play, 1959, for his adaptation of The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt[4]
Tony Award nomination for Best Play, 1959, for his adaptation of The Visit[5]
The Queen's Gambit: a romantic comedy in three acts (Eugène Scribe), Pub: Samuel French, New York, 1956, OCLC Num:: 504510488
Four plays: The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Apollo of Bellac, The Enchanted, Ondine, adapted, and with an introduction by Maurice Valency (Jean Giraudoux), Pub: Hill and Wang, New York, 1958, OCLC Num: 70459302
^Hawthorne, Nathaniel, adapted by Maurice Valency, "Feathertop," in Fifteen American One-Act Plays, Paul Kozelka, ed., New York: Washington Square Press, 1961.
