Raphaël Aubert (born 1953 in
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
) is a Swiss writer and essayist.
Biography
Early life and education
Raphaël Aubert was brought up in a family of artists. He studied in the Faculty of Arts and Theology at
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...
and in Paris.
Career
His first book ''Proche de l’argile ou la Remontée'', a collection of poems, was published in 1975. He has since then published ten books including short stories and some novels, especially ''La bataille de San Romano'' (''The Battle of San Romano''), the action of which starts at the Louvre and questions the mysteries of
Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello ( , ; 1397 – 10 December 1475), born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian Renaissance painter and mathematician from Florence who was notable for his pioneering work on visual Perspective (graphical), perspective in art. In his book ''Liv ...
's famous painting, and ''La Terrasse des éléphants'' (''Elephants's terrace''), novel of the encounter and destiny during the last years of the Vietnam's war.
As a journalist for
Radio Télévision Suisse
The Radio Télévision Suisse (; "Swiss Radio Television"), shortened to RTS, is a subsidiary of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), operating in French-speaking Switzerland. It was created on 1 January 2010 by a merger of Radio Suis ...
, he has travelled to Russia and various eastern countries, the Near East, the United States and Asia.
His essays include studies of
André Malraux
Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...
and
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...
, the latter titled ''L’affaire Rushdie'' (The Rushdie Affair), which garnered interest as it was the first study in French on the Indo-British author.
["Ce petit bouquin objectif et documenté échappe aux lieux communs pour poser – fort et clair – des questions essentielles" (''L'Evénement du Jeudi'', no 308, 27 sept-3 octob. 1990)] In ''Le Paradoxe Balthus'' (''The Balthus Paradox''), he develops an iconoclastic argument based on
Balthus’s famously controversial painting, ''La Leçon de guitare'' (The Guitar Lesson).
Aubert contributes to various reviews in Switzerland and in France, among which ''art press'' and ''Le Passe Muraille''. He is one of the Swiss correspondents of the "Research and Information Circle André Malraux" and he contributed to the ''André Malraux Dictionary'' (Paris, CNRS Editions, 2011 ).
In 2014, he received the State of Vaud Literature Prize and in 2015, he was knighted in Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Selected works
*''L'Absolu et la métamorphose'', Genève, Labor et Fides, 1985 ()
*''L'Affaire
Rushdie'', Paris, Le Cerf, 1990 ()
*
*''La Bataille de San Romano'', Vevey, L'Aire bleue, 2006 ()
*''
Malraux ou la Lutte avec l'ange'', Genève, Labor et Fides, 2001 ()
*''Le Paradoxe
Balthus'', Paris, La Différence, 2005 ()
*''Dieu est-il violent?'' Paris, Bayard, 2008 ()
*''La Terrasse des éléphants'' Vevey, L'Aire, 2009 (); L'Aire bleue, 2011, 2015 ()
*''Chronique des treize lunes. Journal 2008'', Vevey, L'Aire, 2009 ()
*''
Malraux &
Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
Une relation manquée'', Paris/Gollion, Infolio, 2013 ()
*''Cet envers du temps. Journal 2013'', Vevey, L'Aire, 2014 ()
*''Le Voyage à Paris. Un carnet de
Pierre Aubert'', Lausanne, art&fiction, 2017 ()
*''
Balthus L'Antimoderne'', Paris/Gollion, Infolio, 2019 ()
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Francillon, Roger, ed (1999). ''Histoire de la littérature en Suisse romande'', Vol. IV, Lausanne, Payot ()
External links
Lausanne LibraryBiographical notice
Author file
Malraux on the webLiterary reference Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aubert, Raphael
1953 births
Living people
Writers from Lausanne
Swiss journalists
Swiss male novelists
Swiss writers in French
Swiss male poets
20th-century Swiss poets
20th-century Swiss male writers
20th-century Swiss novelists
21st-century Swiss poets
21st-century Swiss novelists
21st-century Swiss male writers