Pierre Guyotat (9 January 1940 – 7 February 2020) was a French writer.

Early life

Pierre Guyotat was born on 9 January 1940 in

Bourg-Argental Bourg-Argental (; frp, Lo Bôrg-Argentâf; oc, Lo Borg d'Argentau) is a commune in the Loire department in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire department The following is a list of the 323 communes of the Loire dep ...

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

Literary career

1960s–1970s

Guyotat wrote his first novel, '' Sur un cheval'', in 1960. He was called to

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in the same year to fight in the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. In 1962 he was found guilty of

desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

and publishing forbidden material. After three months in jail he was transferred to a disciplinary centre. Back in Paris, he got involved in journalism, writing first for ''

France Observateur (), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...

'', then for '' Nouvel Observateur''. In 1964, Guyotat published his second novel '' Ashby''. Between 1964 and 1975, Guyotat travelled extensively in the

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. In July 1967, he was invited to Cuba, along with other writers, where he travelled to the

Sierra Maestra The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view it ...

with

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...

. In 1967, he published '' Tombeau pour cinq cent mille soldats'' (later released in English as ''Tomb for 500,000 Soldiers''). Based on his ordeal as a soldier in the Algerian War, the book earned a cult reputation and became the subject of various controversies, mostly because of its omnipresent sexual obsessions and

homoeroticism Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...

. In 1968, Guyotat became a member of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Uni ...

, which he left in 1971. ''Eden, Eden, Eden'' was published in 1970 with a preface by

Michel Leiris Julien Michel Leiris (; 20 April 1901 in Paris – 30 September 1990 in Saint-Hilaire, Essonne) was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. Part of the Surrealist group in Paris, Leiris became a key member of the College of Sociology with ...

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 popula ...

, and

Philippe Sollers Philippe Sollers (; born Philippe Joyaux; 28 November 1936) is a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the ''avant garde'' literary journal ''Tel Quel'' (along with writer and art critic Marcelin Pleynet), which was published by Le S ...

(

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

's text was received late and therefore did not appear). This book was banned from being publicised or sold to minors. A petition of international support was signed by

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mon ...

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Pierre Dac André Isaac (15 August 1893 Châlons-sur-Marne, France – 9 February 1975 Paris, France), better known as Pierre Dac, was a French humorist. During World War II, Pierre Dac was one of the speakers of the BBC's ''Radio Londres'' service to occ ...

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Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot (; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on post- ...

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Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

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, and

Nathalie Sarraute Nathalie Sarraute (; born Natalia Ilinichna Tcherniak ( rus, Ната́лья Ильи́нична Черня́к); – 19 October 1999) was a French writer and lawyer. Personal life Sarraute was born in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo), 300&n ...

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

, and

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 19 ...

tried to get the ban lifted but failed.

Claude Simon Claude Simon (; 10 October 1913 – 6 July 2005) was a French novelist, and was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature. Biography Claude Simon was born in Tananarive on the isle of Madagascar. His parents were French, his father being ...

(who won the Nobel Prize in 1985) resigned from the jury of the

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...

after the prize wasn't awarded to ''Eden, Eden, Eden''. In 1973, Guyotat's play '' Bond en avant'' ("Leap Forward") was performed. During the 1970s he was involved in various protests: for soldiers, immigrants, and prostitutes. One of those cases was of great importance for him: he personally helped Mohamed Laïd Moussa, a 24-year-old Algerian ex-teacher who was accused and then found guilty of unintentional murder in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern France ...

. One week after he came out of jail, Moussa was murdered by a masked man; this event had a profound impact on Guyotat. In 1975 his novel ''Prostitution'' came out (which incorporated ''Bond en avant'' as the final monologue). From this point on, Guyotat's novels deal with a new kind of illegibility and obscenity. They still explore the possibility of worlds structured by

sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a ...

and transgression of fundamental taboos. But the French language is now unrecognisable, estranged by an extreme grammatical, syntactic and lexical creativity. Ellipses of letters or words,

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

s and phonetic transcriptions of Arabic utterances make it difficult to understand. In the 1987 re-issue of ''Prostitution'', a 120-page appendix - résumé, glossary, "grammar" and translations - is added to the actual fiction, to help the reader. In 1977, while working on ''Le Livre'' (1984) and ''Histoire de Samora Machel'' (still unpublished), he suffered a

psychiatric illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. The depression and the deterioration of his physical and mental state culminated, in December 1981, in a coma.

1980s

Following the election of Francois Mitterrand, France's first socialist president, in 1981, the ban on ''Eden, Eden, Eden'' was lifted. From 1984 to 1986, Guyotat gave a series of readings and performances of his work all over Europe.

2000s

In January 2000 he was involved in the reopening of the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

at Beaubourg in Paris, contributing a reading of the first pages of '' Progénitures''. The book was published shortly after, in 2000 (Gallimard), and '' Explications'' (éditions Leo Scheer). In 2005, ''Sur un cheval'' was reedited and in April 2005 it was read on Radio France under Alain Ollivier's direction. The ''Carnets de bord'' (vol. 1, 1962-1969) were published the same year, as well as Pierre Guyotat's first biography by Catherine Brun, ''Pierre Guyotat, essai biographique''. Between 2005 and 2010, Guyotat wrote and published three autobiographical books: ''

Coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

'' (prix Décembre 2006), ''Formation'' (2007) and ''Arrière-fond'' (2010). In 2011, he wrote ''Independence'', about his experience of the war, published for the centenary of the ''

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

''. The classes he gave at the

University of Paris 8 Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is one of the th ...

between 2001 and 2004 were published in 2011 under the title ''Leçons sur la langue française'' (éd. Léo Scheer). In 2014 he published ''Joyeux animaux de la misère'' (Gallimard). An excerpt of the book was read at the Ircam by actor and director Stanislas Nordey who brought the text to the stage in 2016. The second part of the book was published in the spring of 2016.

Recognition

In 2018, Pierre Guyotat's ''Idiotie'' won the Prix Medicis. In September 2020, an international project entitled ''Eden Eden Eden at 50'' was organised by scholar, writer and museum executive Donatien Grau. The event, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Guyotat's book, comprised 50 readings around the world, by a diverse group of creatives, including artists

Paul McCarthy Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. He studied art at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and later continued ...

and Kaari Upson; writer Chris Kraus; and rapper Abd al Malik. It also included a new film by Australian filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson; a performance by artist Michael Dean, a reading by

Philippe Parreno Philippe Parreno (born 1964 in Oran, Algeria) is a contemporary French artist who lives and works in Paris. His works include films, installations, performances, drawings, and text. Parreno focuses on expanding ideas of time and duration thr ...

in Berlin; and a concert by Scott McCulloch in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

Death and legacy

In 2004, Guyotat donated his manuscripts to 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 ...

(French National Library). He died on 7 February 2020.

Bibliography

English translations

*"Eden, Eden, Eden" transl. by Graham Fox, reworked and revised, (London, Vauxhall & Company, 2017, series editors Paul Buck & Catherine Petit) *"Body of the Text," transl. by Catherine Duncan, published in ''Polysexuality'' (Los Angeles, Semiotext(e), 1981). *''Eden, Eden, Eden'', transl. by Graham Fox (London, Creation Books, 1995). *''Prostitution: An Excerpt'', transl. by Bruce Benderson (New York, Red Dust, 1995). *''Tomb for 500,000 soldiers'', transl. by Romain Slocombe (London, Creation Books, 2003). *"Art is what remains of History," transl. by Paul Buck and Catherine Petit, published in ''Frozen Tears II'' (Birmingham, ARTicle Press, 2004). *''Coma'', transl. by Noura Wedell (Los Angeles,

Semiotext(e) Semiotext(e) is an independent publisher of critical theory, fiction, philosophy, art criticism, activist texts and non-fiction. History Founded in 1974, ''Semiotext(e)'' began as a journal that emerged from a semiotics reading group led by Sylv ...

, 2010). *''Independence'', transl. by Noura Wedell (Los Angeles, Semiotext(e), 2011). *''In the deep'', transl. by Noura Wedell (Los Angeles, Semiotext(e), 2014).

Fiction

*1961 ''Sur un cheval'' (Seuil, Paris). *1964 ''Ashby'' (Seuil, Paris). *1967 ''Tombeau pour cinq cent mille soldats'' (Gallimard, Paris). *1970 ''Eden, Eden, Eden'' (Gallimard, Paris). *1975 ''Prostitution'' (Gallimard, Paris). *1984 ''Le Livre'' (Gallimard, Paris). *1995 ''Wanted Female'', with

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

(Lapis Press, Los Angeles). *2000 ''Progénitures'' (Gallimard, Paris). *2014 ''Joyeux animaux de la misère'' (Gallimard, Paris). *2016 ''Par la main dans les enfers: Joyeux animaux de la misère II'' (Gallimard, Paris)

Non-fiction

*1972 ''Littérature interdite'' (Gallimard, Paris). *1984 ''Vivre'' (Denoël, Paris). *2000 ''Explications'' (Léo Scheer, Paris). *2005 ''Carnets de bord, volume 1 1962-1969'' (Ligne-Manifeste). *2006 ''Coma'' (Mercure de France, Paris). *2007 ''Formation'' (Gallimard, Paris). *2010 ''Arrière-fond'' (Gallimard, Paris). *2011 ''Leçons Sur la Langue Française'' (Léo Scheer, Paris). *2013 ''Pierre Guyotat : les grands entretiens d'Artpress'' (IMEC/Artpress, Paris). *2018 ''Idiotie'' (Grasset et Fasquelle, Paris).

Theatre

*1972 ''Bond en avant'', produced by

Marcel Bozonnet Marcel-Louis Bozonnet (born 18 May 1944, in Semur-en-Auxois), is a French actor. Bozonnet entered the Comédie-Française in 1982, and became a " sociétaire" in 1986. He subsequently directed the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatiq ...

and Alain Ollivier *1987 ''Bivouac'', produced by *2005 '' Sur un cheval'' with

Valérie Crunchant Valérie Crunchant (born 1978) is a French actress. She was born in Évry, Essonne, a suburb of Paris. Valérie Crunchant appears in '' All the fine promises'' (2003), directed and written by Jean-Paul Civeyrac (based on Anne Wiazemsky's nove ...

and

Mireille Perrier Mireille Perrier (born 14 November 1959) is a French actress and stage director. Career She debut in theater with the ''Compagnie du Hasard'' in 1977, where she remained a member for two years. Her first starring role was in Leos Carax Al ...

. Reading directed by Alain Ollivier for

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes (including debates, discussions, and documentari ...

Biography

* 2017 ''Pierre Guyotat Writings, drawings, recordings'' Cabinet Gallery, London, 29 March - 29 April * 2005 ''Pierre Guyotat: Essai biographique'' by Catherine Brun (Editions Leo Scheer). * 1995 ''Pierre Guyotat: Written Matter'', Cabinet Gallery, London & Creation Books, 142 Charing Cross Road, 27 April - 27 May

References

External links

Interview with Noura Wedell in Bomb MagazineVideo interview with Dominiq Jenvrey (subtitled in English) in ParisLike
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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guyotat, Pierre 1940 births 2020 deaths 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French dramatists and playwrights 21st-century French novelists French erotica writers French male novelists Obscenity controversies in literature People from Loire (department) Prix Décembre winners Prix Médicis winners