Michel Gallimard (1917 – January 9, 1960) was a French publisher. Michel Gallimard was a nephew of

Gaston Gallimard Gaston Gallimard (; 18 January 1881 – 25 December 1975) was a French publisher. He founded ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' in 1908, together with André Gide and Jean Schlumberger. In 1911 the trio established La Nouvelle Revue Française. I ...

who considered him his spiritual son.

Biography

Career

In 1946, Michel Gallimard met

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 ...

while the latter completed the writing of his novel '' La Peste, ''and the two of them became good friends. Four years later, he became friends with

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sull ...

during an evening organized by Gaston Gallimard. In September of 1951, he was responsible for negotiating the acquisition of

Éditions Denoël Éditions Denoël is a 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 of the interwar ...

and was also entrusted with the management of the library of the Pléiade by his uncle.

Accident and death (4th of January 1960)

On the morning of January 4, 1960, Michel Gallimard and Albert Camus were driving to Paris. At 1:55 pm, shortly after crossing

Pont-sur-Yonne Pont-sur-Yonne (, literally ''Bridge on Yonne'') is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yonne department *Yonne (river) The Yonne () is a river in France, a left- ...

, the car crashed violently against a

plane tree ''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except f ...

. Albert Camus died instantly. Michel Gallimard, seriously injured, died five days later, on January 9, 1960, at the age of 42. Gallimard's wife and daughter, Janine and Anne Gallimard, escaped unscathed.

Sources

1917 births 1960 deaths {{France-bio-stub French publishers (people) Road incident deaths in France Michel