Jean-Louis Vicomte de Bretizel Rambures (; 19 May 1930 – 20 May 2006) was a French journalist, author, translator of literature, literary critic, and cultural attaché. He introduced contemporary German literature to a broader French audience by interviewing German authors, translating and discussing them 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 ...

''. He also contributed to the rapprochement of the French and the Germans as head of the Institut Français, e.g. in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Life

His parents were Lucille Calogera, from Brazil, and her husband, Vicomte Bernard de Bretizel Rambures from Picardy, France. Besides learning both their languages, Portuguese and French, he was also taught German at a very early age and acquired a taste for German literature, which he was to study later. He went to school in Toulouse and Paris and then enrolled at the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, where he earned a diploma, a "Licence en droit" and a "Licence d´allemand". He learned to speak English fluently; and also studied German literature at the university of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

(in the province of Baden-Württemberg, Germany). In 1958 he started writing for the monthly magazine "Réalités", portraying famous artists, as e.g.

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...

''et al.'' From 1968 on he contributed to the art magazine '' Connaissances des Arts'', to ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' and the daily ''

'', that was to print his articles for the following 25 years. He developed a special interest in the way authors work and analysed the genesis of literature. In the course of several years he contacted numerous contemporary writers, and many of them agreed to grant him an interview,

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 pop ...

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Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio Jean-Marie is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Jean-Marie Abgrall (born 1950), a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult expert, and graduate in criminal law * Jean-Marie C ...

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, Herta Müller,

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Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of D ...

and

Heinrich Böll Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972). ...

, among others. These talks were printed in ''

'' and a selection was presented in his book ''Comment travaillent les écrivains'' (''How writers work'', Flammarion, Paris 1978), which was translated into Japanese and published in Tokyo (Chuokoron-sha, 1979). In the early 1970s de Rambures was a cultural attaché for his country in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. In 1975 he began working for the culture department of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1987 to 1995 he headed the Institut Français (the French equivalent of the British Council), first in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is ...

, then in

. He translated German literature into French, e.g.

Paul Nizon Paul Nizon (born 19 December 1929 in Bern) is a Swiss art historian and writer. Biography The son of a Russian chemist and a Swiss mother, after leaving school he studied history of art, classical archaeology and German language and literature ...

, who thus became known in France.

Awards

Jean-Louis de Rambures was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and was honoured with the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Works

*"Comment travaillent les écrivains" ("How writers work", Flammarion, Paris 1978)

References

* "Jean-Louis de Rambures" (31 May 2006) by Nicole Zand, ''

External links

Photograph by M. Thelen

Short portrait of "Jean-Louis de Rambures"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rambures, Jean-Louis De 1930 births 2006 deaths Writers from Paris French people of Brazilian descent Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany French literary critics French male non-fiction writers French expatriates in Germany Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French male writers