Bernard Comment (born 20 April 1960) is a Swiss writer, translator, scriptwriter, and publisher of books.

Early life

Bernard Comment was born in

Porrentruy Porrentruy (, fc, Poérreintru , german: Pruntrut) is a Swiss municipality and seat of the district of the same name located in the canton of Jura. Porrentruy is home to National League team, HC Ajoie. History The first trace of human pre ...

, Switzerland, on 20 April 1960. He is a son of the artist Jean-François Comment. His elder brother Gerard is the proprietor of a record store ''Collector Shop'' in his hometown.

Education

Comment studied Literature at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

under

Jean Starobinski Jean Starobinski (17 November 1920 – 4 March 2019) was a Swiss literary critic. Biography Starobinski was born in Geneva in 1920, the son of Jewish physicians Aron Starobinski of Warsaw and Sulka Frydman of Lublin. Both his parents left ...

and at the

School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

in Paris under

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...

Career

Comment moved to

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, where for four years he taught at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

. He worked as a sports journalist, before moving to Paris to join as a research fellow at the

Literary

He published his first novel ''L'ombre de mémoire'' in 1990. Between 1993 and 1994, he was awarded a residential fellowship at the

Villa Médicis The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici ...

, which inspired a tract against this kind of State-supported grants. Comment has translated several books of

Antonio Tabucchi Antonio Tabucchi (; 24 September 1943 – 25 March 2012) was an Italian writer and academic who taught Portuguese language and literature at the University of Siena, Italy. Deeply in love with Portugal, he was an expert, critic and translator of ...

into French. In 2005, he succeeded Denis Roche as director at Fiction & Cie, and was appointed president of the Commission of the Novel at the

Centre national du livre The Centre national du livre (CNL) is a French établissement public à caractère administratif. The CNL is placed under the administrative supervision of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (, ). Its vocation and role is to supp ...

, which he held till 2008. In 2010, with Stanley Buchthal, he edited ''Fragments'', a collection of intimate writings, poems and letters of

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

Film and broadcasting

Along with

Alain Tanner Alain Tanner (6 December 1929 – 11 September 2022) was a Swiss film director. Early years and education Tanner was born in Geneva, and studied economics at the University of Geneva. In 1951, he joined the film club which Claude Goretta had re ...

, he co-wrote the screenplays for the films ''Fourbi'' (1996), ''Requiem'' (1998), ''Jonas et Lila, Til Tomorrow'' (1999), ''Paul s'en va'' (2004). He also created with Bertrand Theubet, ''Le pied dans la fourmilière'' (1998) based on one of his novels. He was a member of the international jury at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

(1996) and

Fribourg International Film Festival The Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Grand Prize is the main award of the Fribourg International Film Festival ...

(1998). In 1999, he was appointed as director of fiction at

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes (including debates, discussions, and documentari ...

Other

In the 1980s, Comment was a secretary of the Swiss Association of Football Players. From October 2011, he has been an advisor of programming at

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

Awards and honours

* 1990: Prix Lipp Suisse for ''L'ombre de mémoire'' * 1990: Prix de la République et Canton du Jura * 1993: Prix Antigone for ''Allées et venues'' * 1995: Award of Distinction of the Commission of French literature of the canton of Bern * 2005: Award of the Canton of Bern for ''Un Poisson hors de l'eau'' * 2010:

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

* 2011:

Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

for ''Tout passe''

Bibliography

Novels

* ''L'Ombre de mémoire'', éditions Christian Bourgois, 1990 & Folio, 1999 (English: ''The Shadow of Memory'') * ''Allées et venues'', éditions Christian Bourgois, 1992 * ''Florence, retours'', éditions Christian Bourgois, 1994 & Éditions Gallimard, Folio, 2000 * ''Le Colloque des bustes'', éditions Christian Bourgois, 2000 & Éditions Gallimard, Folio, 2002 * ''Un Poisson hors de l'eau'', Éditions du Seuil, 2004 & Éditions Points, 2007 * ''Triptyque de l'ongle'', Joca Seria, 2008

Essays and stories

Collections

* ''Roland Barthes, vers le Neutre'', éditions Christian Bourgois, 1991 * ''Le XIXe siècle des panoramas'', Adam Biro, 1993 * ''Les fourmis de la gare de Berne'', Editions Zoe, 1996 * ''L'Ongle noir'', Éditions Mille et une nuits, 1997 * ''Éclats cubains'', with photographs by Jean-Luc Cramatte, Verticales/Grimoux, 1998 * ''Die Frauen der Antike'', with Anselm Kiefer, éditions Yvon Lambert, 1999. * ''The Panorama'', Reaktion Books (London) and Abrams (New York). * ''Même les oiseaux'', éditions Christian Bourgois, 1998 & J'ai lu, 2000 * ''Doucet de fonds en combles, trésors d'une bibliothèque d'art'', Herscher, 2004 * ''Entre deux, une enfance en Ajoie'', Biro Editeur, 2007 *

List of stories

As editor

Translations

* ''Rêves de rêves'', by Antonio Tabucchi. (1994) * ''Récits complets : Le Jeu de l'envers – Petits malentendus sans importance – L'Ange noir'', by Antonio Tabucchi. (1995) * ''Il se fait tard de plus en plus tard'', by Antonio Tabucchi. (2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Comment, Bernard 1960 births Living people 20th-century Swiss novelists 21st-century Swiss novelists French publishers (people) Meanjin people Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres People from Porrentruy Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle recipients Swiss male novelists Swiss male short story writers Swiss short story writers Swiss writers in French 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers