Jean-Pierre Vallotton (born 1955 in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
) is a
French-speaking
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
Swiss poet, writer and artist.
Background
Jean-Pierre Vallotton studied literature and drama. He has participated in a number of international literature festivals including
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
, Paris,
Liege,
Republic of Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...
, Canada,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, Australia. From 2005 to 2007, he was a lecturer at the
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...
(literature and cinema). He is also a member of the
Pierrette Micheloud Foundation board and president of its literary award jury.
Writing
Jean-Pierre Vallotton is the author of over thirty works, including poems, short stories, criticism, children texts, artist's books and translations (Ion Caraion,
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
,
Wolfgang Borchert
Wolfgang Borchert (; 20 May 1921 – 20 November 1947) was a German author and playwright whose work was strongly influenced by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the ''Wehrmacht'' during the Second World War. His work is among t ...
,
R. L. Stevenson).
His work has been translated into fifteen languages.
His work has been published in about fifty anthologies and more than fifty periodicals (Two Plus Two, The Mississippi Review, Cimarron, The Prose Poem, Poetry New York, The Chariton Review, Confessio, Álora, Svetová Literatura, Unu, Struga International Review of Poetry, Europe, Nouvelle Revue Française, Poésie/Seghers, PO&SIE, Le Figaro littéraire, L'Humanité). Also a collagist, he illustrated the cover of some of his books.
The bilingual anthology "Wings Folded in Cracks", English translation and foreword by Antonio D'Alfonso, was published by Guernica (Toronto) in 2013 ("Essential Translations Series" 14).
Awards
Winner of several prizes : Hermann Ganz de la Société Suisse des Ecrivains, Unimuse (Belgium), Louise Labé (Paris), de la Ville de Lancy, Poncetton de la Société des Gens de Lettres de France (Paris).
What critics have said about
Jean-Pierre Vallotton's poetry:
"With neither complaint nor joy – uncompromising words."
(Constuire)
"A perfect and elegant writing that softly sings about love."
(Arpa)
"His poetry book traces a need for deep communion, for
transcendental essence, the light of which is a symbol closest
to the absolute."
(Rétro-Viseur)
"Profusion and sobriety converge in this pursuit of a learned
language of poetry."
(Le Courrier de l ’Escaut)
"Here is poetry, vibrantly so. the divine breathe of
inspiration transcends anguish, and opens to new life."
(Lettres et Cultures de Langue Française)
"Poetry opening to all horizons, to duration, and essentially
to what is presence."
(Le Journal des Poètes)
"More than the macroscopic of the surreal, Jean-Pierre Vallotton explores
the microscopic of hyperreality. In fact, if there is one single element in
this complex poetry that stands out, it is precisely the absence of
anything obvious. Yet his idiosyncratic poetic structure never disrupts its
symbolic density. Behind the irregularity of forms, there is recurrence,
tempo, permanency of pursuit. Where other poets of his generation
developed strategies of deconstruction, Vallotton invented a brave new
mosaic with the parameters left behind by traditionalism, modernism
and postmodernism. If William Wordsworth, Oscar Wilde, T.S. Eliot
are considered decadent, then so is Jean-Pierre Vallotton a decadent,
however, the sort of decadent that will be viewed as being great in years
to come: ''the space between us is a path of magnificence'', and here the
faintest of our ''footsteps draws forth a flower''. His neo-baroque poetry
stands at the crossroads of whatever styles, forms, and contents
led to this spot; and it is with the pernicious artefacts found here that
Jean-Pierre Vallotton invents the unknown structures that will welcome
the birds of paradise of tomorrow." (Antonio D’Alfonso, in Wings Folded in Cracks)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallotton, Jean-Pierre
Swiss male short story writers
Swiss short story writers
Swiss children's writers
Swiss male poets
Swiss dramatists and playwrights
Male dramatists and playwrights
Swiss literary critics
Swiss songwriters
Living people
1955 births