Frédéric Musso (3 February 1941 – 5 September 2020) was an Algerian-born French writer, poet, and journalist.

Biography

Musso was born in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

to a family of Sardinian descent. He studied at the Collège Notre-Dame-d'Afrique in Algiers, where he discovered the works of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

. After failing in his higher studies, he turned to writing and journalism. He began his writing career working for Claude Tenne, a member of the

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an att ...

and evading prison on Île de Ré, for his work on ''Mais le Diable marche avec nous''. He wrote his first novel, ''La Déesse'', in the 1960s, although it was not published until 1975. The novel received the

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 ...

the year it was published, giving Musso notoriety in the literary world. He subsequently wrote three novels and four essays, one of which was devoted to

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

, before he began focusing on poetry. He worked for ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on ''L'Intransigeant' ...

'' from 1988 to 2003. Frédéric Musso lived in

Générargues Générargues (; oc, Generargues) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France, around 10 km southwest of Alès. Geography Climate Générargues has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). ...

until his death. He died on 5 September 2020 at the age of 79.

Works

*''Arthur Rimbaud'' (1972) *''La Déesse'' (1975) *''L'Algérie des souvenirs'' (1976) *''Martin est aux Afriques'' (1978) *''La Longue-vue'' (1983) *''Le Point sur l'île'' (1983) *''Dans les murs'' (1985) *''Un pékin en Chine'' (1988) *''Les mots dorment loin du rivage'' (1997) *''Orvieto'' (2002) *''Albert Camus ou la Fatalité des natures'' (2006) *''L'Imparfait du fugitif'' (2010) *''L'Exil et sa demeure'' (2013) *''Le Petit Bouddha de bronze'' (2014) *''Le Soleil et la Source'' (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musso, Frederic 1941 births 2020 deaths 20th-century French writers 21st-century French writers Pieds-noirs French people of Sardinian descent Writers from Algiers