''Un été avec'' () is a French radio programme and book series produced by

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a " generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...

since 2012. Broadcast in the summer, it consists of commentaries and reflections about a famous writer or literary work. The material is published as a book the year after the radio broadcast. Series have been made about Michel de Montaigne (2012), Marcel Proust (2013),

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...

(2014),

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 ...

(2015),

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

(2016),

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

(

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...

(2018), Blaise Pascal (2019),

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

(2020),

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

(2021),

Vladimir Jankélévitch Vladimir Jankélévitch (; 31 August 1903 – 6 June 1985) was a French philosopher and musicologist. Biography Jankélévitch was the son of Russian Jewish parents, who had emigrated to France. In 1922 he started studying philosophy at the Éco ...

(2022) and ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'' (2023).

History

In the summer of 2012,

broadcast ''Un été avec Montaigne'' (), a radio programme in 40 episodes with analyses of Michel de Montaigne's ''

Essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

''. The series was written by the literature professor Antoine Compagnon of the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

. It was well received and published as a book the next year by Éditions des Équateurs. France Inter made the series a yearly occurrence, applying the same formula to a famous writer every summer. Compagnon has returned several years but other writers have also written for the programme. Sylvain Tesson was initially approached to make a series about

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

, but preferred

and got his wish granted in 2017.

was chosen as subject for the 2021 edition due to a listener complaint that the programme only had covered male writers. ''A Summer with Montaigne'' was published in English translation in 2019.

Series

Reception

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

''s Thierry Clermont described the first book, ''A Summer with Montaigne'', as a success and attributed this to the simplicity and pertinence conveyed by Compagnon's presentation of Montaigne's themes. Marion Mayer of ''

Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic Desautez is de ...

'' called the programmes about Colette fascinating and wrote that they manage to include much without becoming indigestible. The books have been commercially successful. ''A Summer with Montaigne'' sold 250,000 copies. Tesson's ''

Un été avec Homère ''Un été avec Homère'' () is a 2018 book by the French writer Sylvain Tesson, originally written as a series for France Inter's radio programme ''Un été avec''. Tesson analyses the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' by Homer, commenting on their the ...

'' sold 200,000 copies.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ete avec 2012 radio programme debuts Book series introduced in 2013 Books about writers French public radio programs Radio shows about books and literature