Frédéric Berthet (20 August 1954 – 25 December 2003) was a 20th-century French writer.

Biography

A former student of the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(1974-1977), Frédéric Berthet is a resident at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

where he notably worked on the "fonds Barrès". Frédéric Berthet was cultural attaché in New York from 1984 to 1987. Pierre Bayard, One of his comrades in the École Normale and friend, said of him: "He had a fascinating aura, thanks to his prestigious associations: Barthes, Sollers,

Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; ; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, ; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Colum ...

... But most of all, he was very funny. ..Thanks to him I discovered

Fitzgerald Fitzgerald may refer to: People * Fitzgerald (surname), a surname * Fitzgerald Hinds, Trinidadian politician * Fitzgerald Toussaint (born 1990), former American football running back Place Australia * Fitzgerald River National Park, a nati ...

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (; March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophical ...

, Brautigan,

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

".... Five books were published during his lifetime, in the space of ten years. ''Simple journée d'été'', which the author himself defined as a "suite" of short stories, in the musical sense of the term, appeared in Denoël's L'Infini series in January 1986. Notably, this first publication contained no mention of genre or literary format. ''Daimler s'en va'', a new incursion into the "romanesque territory," according to his own terms, was published in the same series, now at Gallimard, in May 1988. The book, praised in particular in ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' by

Bertrand Poirot-Delpech Bertrand Poirot-Delpech (10 February 1929, Paris – 14 November 2006) was a French journalist, essayist and novelist. He was elected to the Académie française on 10 April 1986. He is the father of writer Julie Wolkenstein. Early years Poirot ...

, who devoted the work his entire column,''Les nouveaux dandys'', ''Le Monde'', Friday 24 June 1988. Bertrand Poirot-Delpech concluded his article: "He gives the reader this valuable gift: something to discover oneself more original than one believed, at least, more singular." experienced a critical success. From then on, and although the title of this novel invited to reflection like the last word of his narrative to silence, each of Frédéric Berthet's books was awaited with curiosity. In January 1993, appeared simultaneously ''Felicidad'', his second collection of short stories (L'Infini's headline read "Nouvelles du front"), and ''Paris-Berry'' (that of the "Blanche Collection" read "Counter-attack"), a short story as unclassifiable as the preceding ones, but which aroused in the press a wave of interrogations, if not indignations: a bit casual, was this irruption in the mythical collection of Gallimard a provocation? His last book, ''Le Retour de Bouvard et Pécuchet'' was published by

Éditions du Rocher The Éditions du Rocher is a publishing house based in Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the R ...

in March 1996. The literary work of Frédéric Berthet, however, began in 1970. He was 16 years old. Over the course of these thirty-three years, his literary activity was carried out in various forms: essays, lectures, communications, interviews, translations, articles and press columns... Their reading reveals today that each of these events participated of the same topicality of thought: the realization of a "program" formulated since 1970 and remained in suspense the day after his disappearance. Frédéric Berthet lived in

Chambon-sur-Voueize Chambon-sur-Voueize (, literally ''Chambon on Voueize''; ) is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography An area of lakes, forestry and farming comprising a small town and several hamlets ...

since 1993.

Work

*1986: ''Simple journée d'été'' (short stories),

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 interwa ...

*1988: ''Daimler s'en va'' (novel),

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by G ...

Prix Roger Nimier The Roger Nimier Prize () is a French literature award. It is supposed to go to "a young author whose spirit is in line with the literary works of Roger Nimier". Nimier (1925–1962) was a novelist and a leading member of the Hussards movement. The ...

1989 *1993: ''Felicidad'' (short stories), Gallimard, prix de la nouvelle

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

1993) *1993: ''Paris-Berry'' (narration), Gallimard *1996: ''Le Retour de Bouvard & Pécuchet'', Le Rocher

Posthumous editions

*2006: ''Journal de Trêve'' (literary diary 1979–1982), followed by ''Lettre à Saul Bellow'', Gallimard *2011: ''Correspondances'' 1973–2003 (selection of letters),

La Table Ronde LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

Literary magazines

*2007: ''Rouge, Blanc, Noir & Or'' (short story), ''

La Nouvelle Revue française LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

'' n° 580, Gallimard *2007: ''The Book of Truce'' (abstract of ''Journal de Trêve'', translation by Linda Coverdale), "The Reading Room" n° 7, New York: Great Marsh Press *2008: ''La Petite en enfer'' (short story), Décapage n° 33, La Table Ronde *2011: ''En paix'' (chronique de presse), Décapage n° 43, La Table Ronde *2012: ''Ce qu'ils appelaient désespoir'' (short story), L'Infini n° 121, Gallimard *2013: ''Time-Lapse'' (abstract of ''Préparatifs de roman'' 1976–1979), La Revue Singulière

References

External links

Frédéric Berthet
on the site of the Académie française
''Berthet retrouvé''
on ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' 14/12/2006
Frédéric Berthet
on INA.fr, video, 16/05/1989

on Causeur.fr 1/16/2013
''Deux romans drôles et noirs de Frédéric Berthet''
on '' Sud Ouest'' 31/01/2011
Frédéric Berthet
on Babelio {{DEFAULTSORT:Berthet, Frederic 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers École Normale Supérieure alumni Roger Nimier Prize winners Writers from Neuilly-sur-Seine 1954 births 2003 deaths