Jean Venturini

Jean Venturini (17 September 1919 – 17 June 1940) was a French poet and sailor. He died at the age of 20 during the Second World War when his submarine was lost in the Mediterranean Sea.

Biography Jean Venturini was born in Nabeul, Tunisia, and spent most of his childhood in Morocco. In his teens, he studied at a high school near Meknes. He began writing poetry at the age of 16, poems which were later collected and published in November 1939 as Outlines. This was to be his only published work. He was killed in June 1940, along with the entire crew of the submarine Morse, which had struck a mine. He had trained as a signaller before joining the French Navy in 1939.

Outlines is a collection of poems heavily influenced by the theories of poet Arthur Rimbaud. With its themes and writing, this work is very close to the surrealist aesthetic.

Works

Outlines, collection of poems, Casablanca, Éditions du Moghreb, November 1939, 80 p. Outlines : reissue with a biographical afterword on the sinking of the submarine « Morse », Paris, Vaillant, June 2009, 112 p. Scattered poems, not collected : Ballade d'un qui part, published in December 1939 by the review Fontaine Une Pierre dans l'eau, published in May 1940 by the review Poésie 40 Victime d'affiches, unpublished manuscript poem, June 1940 (sent in a letter to a close friend)