Frédéric Berthet (20 August 1954 – 25 December 2003) was a 20th-century French writer.

Biography

A former student of the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(1974-1977), Frédéric Berthet is a resident at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

where he notably worked on the "fonds Barrès". Frédéric Berthet was cultural attaché in New York from 1984 to 1987.

Pierre Bayard Pierre Bayard (born 1954) is currently professor of Literature at the University of Paris 8 and psychoanalyst. He is the author of many creative essays such as ''Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?'' (2002), ''How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read'' (2 ...

, One of his comrades in the École Normale and friend, said of him: "He had a fascinating aura, thanks to his prestigious associations:

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 c ...

Sollers Sollers is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Philippe Sollers (born 1936), French writer and critic * Augustus Rhodes Sollers (1814–1862), American politician See also * Sollers JSC Sollers, formerly known as OAO Severst ...

Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, bg, Юлия Стоянова Кръстева; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has ...

... But most of all, he was very funny. ..Thanks to him I discovered

Fitzgerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

, Brautigan,

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

".... Five books were published during his lifetime, in the space of ten years. ''Simple journée d'été'', which the author himself defined as a "suite" of short stories, in the musical sense of the term, appeared in Denoël's

L'Infini ''L'Infini'' (in English ''Infinity'') is a French literary collection and magazine, established in 1983 in Paris by Philippe Sollers as a follow up of the magazine ''Tel Quel''. The magazine was first published by Éditions Denoël and later o ...

series in January 1986. Notably, this first publication contained no mention of genre or literary format. ''Daimler s'en va'', a new incursion into the "romanesque territory," according to his own terms, was published in the same series, now at Gallimard, in May 1988. The book, praised in particular in ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' by

Bertrand Poirot-Delpech Bertrand Poirot-Delpech (10 February 1929, Paris – 14 November 2006) was a French journalist, essayist and novelist. He was elected to the Académie française on 10 April 1986. He is the father of writer Julie Wolkenstein. Early years Poirot ...

, who devoted the work his entire column,''Les nouveaux dandys'', ''Le Monde'', Friday 24 June 1988. Bertrand Poirot-Delpech concluded his article: "He gives the reader this valuable gift: something to discover oneself more original than one believed, at least, more singular." experienced a critical success. From then on, and although the title of this novel invited to reflection like the last word of his narrative to silence, each of Frédéric Berthet's books was awaited with curiosity. In January 1993, appeared simultaneously ''Felicidad'', his second collection of short stories (L'Infini's headline read "Nouvelles du front"), and ''Paris-Berry'' (that of the "Blanche Collection" read "Counter-attack"), a short story as unclassifiable as the preceding ones, but which aroused in the press a wave of interrogations, if not indignations: a bit casual, was this irruption in the mythical collection of Gallimard a provocation? His last book, ''Le Retour de Bouvard et Pécuchet'' was published by

Éditions du Rocher The Éditions du Rocher is a publishing house based in Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the Fre ...

in March 1996. The literary work of Frédéric Berthet, however, began in 1970. He was 16 years old. Over the course of these thirty-three years, his literary activity was carried out in various forms: essays, lectures, communications, interviews, translations, articles and press columns... Their reading reveals today that each of these events participated of the same topicality of thought: the realization of a "program" formulated since 1970 and remained in suspense the day after his disappearance. Frédéric Berthet lived in

Chambon-sur-Voueize Chambon-sur-Voueize (, literally ''Chambon on Voueize''; oc, Chambon) is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography An area of lakes, forestry and farming comprising a small town and several ...

since 1993.

Work

*1986: ''Simple journée d'été'' (short stories),

Éditions Denoël Éditions Denoël is a French culture, French publishing house founded in 1930. Acquired by Éditions Gallimard in 1951, it publishes collections spanning fiction, non-fiction and comic books. It published some of the most important French authors ...

*1988: ''Daimler s'en va'' (novel),

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

Prix Roger Nimier The Roger Nimier Prize () is a French literature award. It is supposed to go to "a young author whose spirit is in line with the literary works of Roger Nimier". Nimier (1925–1962) was a novelist and a leading member of the Hussards (literary move ...

1989 *1993: ''Felicidad'' (short stories), Gallimard, prix de la nouvelle

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

1993) *1993: ''Paris-Berry'' (narration), Gallimard *1996: ''Le Retour de Bouvard & Pécuchet'', Le Rocher

Posthumous editions

*2006: ''Journal de Trêve'' (literary diary 1979–1982), followed by ''Lettre à Saul Bellow'', Gallimard *2011: ''Correspondances'' 1973–2003 (selection of letters),

La Table Ronde LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

Literary magazines

*2007: ''Rouge, Blanc, Noir & Or'' (short story), ''

La Nouvelle Revue française LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'' n° 580, Gallimard *2007: ''The Book of Truce'' (abstract of ''Journal de Trêve'', translation by

Linda Coverdale Linda Coverdale is a literary translator from French. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a Ph.D in French Literature. She has translated into English more than 60 works by such authors as Roland Barthes, Emmanuel Carrère, Patrick Chamoiseau, ...

), "The Reading Room" n° 7, New York: Great Marsh Press *2008: ''La Petite en enfer'' (short story), Décapage n° 33, La Table Ronde *2011: ''En paix'' (chronique de presse), Décapage n° 43, La Table Ronde *2012: ''Ce qu'ils appelaient désespoir'' (short story),

n° 121, Gallimard *2013: ''Time-Lapse'' (abstract of ''Préparatifs de roman'' 1976–1979), La Revue Singulière

References

External links

Frédéric Berthet
on the site of the Académie française
''Berthet retrouvé''
on ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'' 14/12/2006
Frédéric Berthet
on INA.fr, video, 16/05/1989

on Causeur.fr 1/16/2013
''Deux romans drôles et noirs de Frédéric Berthet''
on '' Sud Ouest'' 31/01/2011
Frédéric Berthet
on Babelio {{DEFAULTSORT:Berthet, Frederic 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers École Normale Supérieure alumni Roger Nimier Prize winners People from Neuilly-sur-Seine 1954 births 2003 deaths