Patrick Grainville | |
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Born | |
Nationality | French |
Education | Lycée Henri-IV |
Alma mater | Paris-Sorbonne University |
Occupation | Novelist |
Known for | Member of the Académie Française |
French literature |
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by category |
French literary history |
French writers |
Portals |
Patrick Grainville (born 1 June 1947 Villers-sur-Mer, Calvados) is a French novelist.
He spent his childhood in Villerville, a small town east of Deauville. An associate professor of letters, he received the Prix Goncourt in 1976, 29 years old, for his fourth novel, Les Flamboyants ("The Flasher"). [1]
He has written extensively on Africa, where he undertook a cooperative mission. [2] He is professor of French at the Lycée Évariste Galois in Sartrouville.
Grainville is also literary critic for Le Figaro .[ citation needed ] In 2018, he was elected to the Académie Française. [3]
Grainville spent his childhood in Normandy, regularly going to hunt and poach with his father, [4] businessman and mayor of Villerville. He attended the André Maurois lycee in Deauville, then Malherbe in Caen, before winning admission to his higher education at the Lycée Henri-IV and to the Sorbonne where he prepared for his civil service competitive examination. At the age of 19 years Grainville wrote his first manuscript, then at age 25 he published his first novel The Fleece, [5] which was immediately accepted by Gallimard. [6] Just before dying, Henry de Montherlant predicted him great future and lauded his specific style. His next novel The Edge failed the Goncourt in 1973, in the fifth tour against The ogre by Jacques Chessex, [7] to the great displeasure of Michel Tournier who supported it in jury. [8]
Having compared with Jean Giono [9] for his wild novels linked to elements and to Louis-Ferdinand Céline for his "verbal excess", [10] Grainville distanced himself from this inheritance by a fantastique and dream which impregnates his work: the mythological Amazon (La Diane rousse), return to original animality (The Shadow of the animal), secrets and conspiracies [11] (The black Fortresses), the narrator observer of underworld (The eternal Tyrant), or the animals who manage the destiny of men (Light of the rat, The Kiss of the octopus). Writer of the two centuries, following the example of Huysmans but having digested Proust, [12] Nouveau roman and "the academic ressassements of some realism", according to Michel Tournier Grainville opened a "new way" which led to the 21st century.
Grainville always enjoyed painting, which was his inspiration. [13]
Michel Tournier was a French writer. He won awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Friday, or, The Other Island and the Prix Goncourt for The Erl-King in 1970. His inspirations included traditional German culture, Catholicism and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He resided in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit. He was on occasion in contention for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot is a French literary award.
Louis Pauwels was a French journalist and writer.
Philippe Jaccottet was a Swiss Francophone poet and translator.
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The Prix Méditerranée is a French literary award. It was created in 1984 in Perpignan by the Mediterranean Centre of Literature (CML) in order to promote cultural interaction among the numerous countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Two awards are handed out every year, the Prix Méditerranée itself and the Prix Méditerranée Étranger. The latter is given to a writer from the Mediterranean basin whose original work has been translated into French.
Laurence Ruel, known by her pen name Camille Laurens, is a French writer and winner of the 2000 Prix Femina for Dans ces bras-là. Laurens is a member of the Académie Goncourt.
Bernard Comment is a Swiss writer, translator, scriptwriter, and publisher of books.
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Raymond Jean was a prolific French writer. He published more than 40 books in many genres, and won the Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle in 1983 for his book Un fantasme de Bella B. His novella La lectrice was turned into a hit film by director Michel Deville, starring Miou-Miou. It has been translated in English by Adriana Hunter for publication by Peirene Press, under the title Reader for Hire.
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Bernard Chambaz is a French writer, historian and poet, winner of several French literary prizes.
Hédi Kaddour is a French poet and novelist.
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Christine Jordis real name Marie-Christine Morel de Foucaucourt is a French writer, journalist and editor, a specialist in English literature.
The grand prix de la Critique littéraire was created in 1948 by Robert André. It is awarded each year by the French PEN club to a literary essay. Chaired by Joël Schmidt, its jury is now made up of Jean Blot, Jean-Luc Despax, Jean-Claude Lamy, Daniel Leuwers, Jean Orizet, Laurence Paton, Antoine Spire and Patrick Tudoret. Since its creation, it has rewarded many leading authors and intends to promote a literary criticism of quality and, quite simply, literature.
Jacques Bens was a French writer and poet.
François Bott was a French author who after a long career as a journalist and literary critic became a writer of novels, one of which, Une minute d’absence (2001), won the Académie Française's Prix de la Nouvelle. He continued as a literary critic, writing essays focused on other writers, especially Roger Vailland.