Queer Places:
Le Fiacre, 4 Rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 Paris, France

Henri Hell, pseudonym for José Enrique Lasry (October 30, 1916, Caracas (Venezuela) - April 6, 1991, Louveciennes (Yvelines)) was a French art, music and literary critic, as well as a musicologist.

Born in Venezuela, settled in France in 1921. John Ashbery on how he met Pierre Martory: It was at a gay bar, Le Fiacre, rue du Cherche-Midi, and I ran into a critic named Henri Hell. Have you ever heard of him? He was quite well known at the time. Anyway I hadn't seen him for a while. He said, How are things, how are you getting along, are you enjoying Paris? I said, Yes I am, but I'm a little bored, I think I'd like to have an affair with a French writer. And then we noticed this man who was standing nearby, beaming at both of us. He was rather short, but trying to appear taller than he was. He seemed to know Henri, so I said, You know who that guy is? Henri said, He's a French writer. Anyway that night I ended up getting to know Pierre and indeed we lived together for many years. That would've been in 1956 and I moved back to America in 1965 because my father had died and I needed to be here, close to my mother to take care of her. During those years, Pierre and I lived together, and it was a wonderful experience.

As a literary critic, Henri Hell collaborated with Fontaine, Combat, la Table Ronde, l'Express, Nouvel Observateur, Le Monde, the Nouvelle Revue Française. He assisted Max-Pol Fouchet in the management of the magazine Fontaine. He was a music critic at la Revue Musicale, Nouveau Candide, la Table Ronde, the Gazette de Lausanne, Mercure de France. He directed the Fayard publishing house. Finally, he published a reference book on Francis Poulenc at the same house.[1] He was also an art columnist.


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