Editing Boris Vian (section)

===Later years===
The year 1948 saw the birth of Vian's daughter, Carole. He continued his literary career by writing Vernon Sullivan novels, and also published poetry collections: ''Barnum's Digest'' (1948) and ''Cantilènes en gelée'' (Cantelinas in Jelly, 1949). Vian also started writing plays, the first of which, ''L'Équarrissage pour tous'' (Slaughter for Everyone), was staged the year it was written, 1950. The same year saw the publication of Vian's third major novel, ''L'Herbe rouge'' (The Red Grass). This was a much darker story than its predecessors, centering on a man who built a giant machine that could help him [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalyze]] his soul. Like the previous two books, it did not sell well; Vian's financial situation had been steadily worsening since late 1948, and he was forced to take up translation of English-language literature and articles in order to get by. Vian separated from his wife, and in 1950 he met [[Ursula Kübler]] (1928–2010), a Swiss dancer; the two started an affair, and in 1951 Vian divorced Michelle. Ursula and Boris married in 1954.

Vian's last novel, ''L'Arrache-cœur'' (The Heartsnatcher), was published in 1953, yet again to poor sales and Vian effectively stopped writing fiction. The only work that appeared after 1953 was a revised version of ''L'automne à Pékin'', published 1956. He concentrated on a new field, song-writing and performing, and continued writing poetry. Vian's songs were successful; in 1954 he embarked on his first tour as singer-songwriter. By 1955, when he was working as [[Art director|art director]] for [[Philips]], Vian was active in a wide variety of fields: song-writing, opera, screenplays and several more plays. His first album, ''Chansons possibles et impossibles'' (Possible and Impossible Songs), was also recorded in 1955. He wrote the first French [[rock and roll]] songs with his friend [[Henri Salvador]], who sang them under the nickname Henry Cording. He also wrote "Java Pour Petula" (a song about an English girl arriving in France, written in Parisian argot) for [[Petula Clark]]'s first concert performances in France.

Still in 1955, Vian decided to perform some of his songs on stage himself. He had been unhappy about the fact that French singer [[Marcel Mouloudji]] (1922–1994), who had interpreted "[[Le Deserteur]]" (The Deserter) on stage the year before, had not accepted the original lyrics because he thought that they would lead to the song being banned. Although Vian accepted a change to one verse, the song was banned from TV and radio channels until 1967. The record of Vian's songs performed by himself was not successful in France until ten years after his death.

Vian's life was endangered in 1956 by a [[pulmonary edema]], but he survived and continued working with the same intensity as before. In 1957, Vian completed another play: ''Les Bâtisseurs d'empire'' (The Empire Builders), which was only published and staged in 1959. In 1958, Vian worked on the opera ''Fiesta'' with [[Darius Milhaud]], and a collection of his essays, ''En avant la zizique... Et par ici les gros sous'' (On with the Muzak... And Bring in the Big Bucks), was published the same year.