Les Éditions de Minuit (, ''Midnight Press'') is a French

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. It was founded in 1941, during the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and is still publishing books today.

History

Les Éditions de Minuit was founded by writer and illustrator

Jean Bruller Jean Marcel Adolphe Bruller (26 February 1902 – 10 June 1991) was a French writer and illustrator who co-founded the publishing company Les Éditions de Minuit with Pierre de Lescure. Born to a Hungarian-Jewish father, he joined the French Resi ...

and writer Pierre de Lescure (1891–1963) in 1941 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

of northern France (by November 1942, German forces occupied all of France). At the time, the media and all forms of publishing were controlled and

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

by the Nazi occupiers. ''Les Éditions de Minuit'' was started to circumvent the censorship. It was an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

publisher until the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944. ''

Le Silence de la mer ''Le Silence de la mer'' (, ''The Silence of the Sea'') is a French novel written during the summer of 1941 and published in early 1942 by Jean Bruller under the pseudonym "Vercors". Published secretly in German-occupied Paris, the book quic ...

'' ''(The Silence of the Sea)'' (1942) by co-founder Bruller (who wrote under the pseudonym Vercors) was the first book published. Distribution, as with other Resistance texts, was based on being passed from person to person. ''Le Silence de la mer'' was followed in 1943 by '' Chroniques interdites'' (banned newspaper columns, various authors), '' L'Honneur des poètes'' ''(The Honour of poets)'' poetry collected by

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

, '' Le cahier noir'' ''(The Black Notebook)'' by

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Priz ...

, and '' Le musée Grévin'' (''The Grévin Museum'') by

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

. A small group of

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

s joined Bruller and de Lescure, and together they risked imprisonment and death to publish works by some of France's greatest authors (who wrote under pseudonyms). The authors included

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

André Chamson André Chamson (6 June 1900 – 9 November 1983) was a French archivist, novelist and essayist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the father of the novelist . Biography Chamson was born at Nîmes, Gard. Having studi ...

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

, and the first unabridged French translation of

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

's ''

The Moon Is Down ''The Moon Is Down'' is a novel by American writer John Steinbeck. Fashioned for adaptation for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian King Haakon VII Freedom Cross, it was published by Viking Press in March 1942. The story ...

'' (''Nuits noires''). After the war, when ''Les Éditions de Minuit'' was able to operate openly, it continued to publish books but struggled in the early postwar years to become financially stable. The publishing house was directed by

Jérôme Lindon Jerome (c.347–420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia. Jerome may also refer to: People Given name * Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named * Saint Jerome (disambiguat ...

from 1947 until his death in 2001. His daughter, Irène Lindon, succeeded him. In the 1950s, the company began to be more successful. Lindon was the first to publish several novels by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

, who wrote in French as well as English, and was resident in France at the time. Other authors published include

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; July 13, 1935 – January 3, 2003) was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled ''The Straigh ...

Alain Robbe-Grillet Alain Robbe-Grillet (; 18 August 1922 – 18 February 2008) was a French writer and filmmaker. He was one of the figures most associated with the '' Nouveau Roman'' (new novel) trend of the 1960s, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and C ...

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 a ...

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

and

Robert Pinget Robert Pinget (Geneva, July 19, 1919 – August 25, 1997, Tours) was an avant-garde French writer, born in Switzerland, who wrote several novels and other prose pieces that drew comparison to Beckett and other major Modernist writers. He was al ...

, who constituted the backbone of the Nouveau roman literary movement. It also published

Henri Alleg Henri Alleg (20 July 1921 – 17 July 2013), born as Harry John Salem, was a French-Algerian journalist, director of the '' Alger républicain'' newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party. After Editions de Minuit, a French publish ...

's ''

La Question ''La Question'' (French for "The question") is a book by Henri Alleg, published in 1958. It is famous for precisely describing the methods of torture used by French paratroopers during the Algerian War from the point of view of a victim. ''La Que ...

'' (1958) on the use of torture by the French Army during 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 ...

(1954–62). The book was

. From the late 1970s to the mid-80s, Lindon and the Éditions de Minuit promoted several young French authors such as

Jean Echenoz Jean Echenoz (born 26 December 1947) is a French writer. Biography Jean Echenoz was born in Orange, Vaucluse, the son of a psychiatrist, He studied in Rodez, Digne-les-Bains, Lyon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Paris, where he has lived sinc ...

, soon joined by

Jean-Philippe Toussaint Jean-Philippe Toussaint (29 November 1957, Brussels) is a Belgian novelist, photographer and filmmaker. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and he has had his photographs displayed in Brussels and Japan. Toussaint won t ...

(from Belgium),

Jean Rouaud Jean Rouaud (born 13 December 1952) is a French author, who was born in Campbon, Loire-Atlantique. In 1990 his novel ''Fields of Glory'' (French: ''Les Champs d'honneur'') won the Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ...

Marie NDiaye Marie NDiaye (born 4 June 1967) is a French novelist, playwright and screenwriter. She published her first novel, ''Quant au riche avenir'', when she was 17. She won the Prix Goncourt in 2009. Her play ''Papa doit manger'' is the sole play by a ...

Patrick Deville Patrick Deville (born 14 December 1957 in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins) is a French writer. Life After studying comparative literature and philosophy at the University of Nantes, Deville lived in the Middle East, Nigeria and Algeria. In the 1990s, he ...

Éric Chevillard Éric Chevillard (born 18 June 1964) is a French novelist. He has won awards for several novels including ''La nébuleuse du crabe'' in 1993, which won the Fénéon Prize, Fénéon Prize for Literature. Chevillard was born in La Roche-sur-Yon, Ven ...

, and lately by Laurent Mauvignier and Julia Deck. These have been classified under the tag of "Style Minuit", characterized by a certain writing renewal (partially influenced by the Nouveau Roman), based on minimalist formalism mixed to an elaborated style. From its foundation to 2015, the Éditions de Minuit have, through their authors, won two

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

(

and

), three

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

('' The Lover'' by

, '' I'm Off'' by

and ''

Fields of Glory ''Fields of Glory'' is a real-time strategy video game published by MicroProse in 1993. In the game players can re-enact the four major historical battles in Napoleon's Waterloo campaign (The Battle of Ligny, Battle of Quatre-Bras, Battle of ...

'' by

), seven

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 ...

, one

Prix Renaudot The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot () is a French literary award. History The prize was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt. While not officially related to the ...

and three

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

21st century

The style of the front covers of Les Éditions de Minuit books is nearly as spare as the wartime edition of ''Le Silence de la mer''. The only decoration is a blue border and the symbol of Les Éditions de Minuit: a star and the letter "m".

Book series

* Arguments * Critique * Documents * Philosophie * Propositions * Le Sens commun

References

External links

Official website of Les Éditions de Minuit
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Editions de Minuit Book publishing companies of France French resistance publications French brands Publishing companies established in 1941 French companies established in 1941 Underground press in World War II Prix Femina winners