Patrick Grainville (born 1 June 1947

Villers-sur-Mer Villers-sur-Mer () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy, northwestern France, with a population of 2,644 as of 2017. Geography The commune is located on the French coast of the English Channel, on the Côte Fleurie, between D ...

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...

) is a French novelist. He spent his childhood in Villerville, a small town east of

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film F ...

. An Associate Professor of Letters, he received the

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 ...

in 1976, 29 years old, for his fourth novel, ''Les Flamboyants'' ("The Flasher"). He has written extensively on Africa, where he undertook a cooperative mission. He is professor of French at the Lycée Évariste Galois in

Sartrouville Sartrouville () is a commune in the Yvelines department, Île-de-France, north central France. it is located in the north-western suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. Name In the Middle Ages the name Sartrouville was recorded in Medieva ...

. Grainville is also literary critic for ''

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 ...

''. In 2018, he was elected to the Académie française.

Biography

Grainville spent his childhood in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, regularly going to hunt and poach with his father, businessman and mayor of

Villerville Villerville () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. the commune is located towards the eastern end of the coastline called the Côte Fleurie (Flowery Coast). Composer Francis Bayer (1938–2004) ...

. He attended the André Maurois lycee in

, then Malherbe in Caen, before winning admission to his higher education at the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges (''lycées'') in France. The school educates more than ...

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'', which was immediately accepted by Gallimard. Just before dying,

Henry de Montherlant Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant (; 20 April 1895 – 21 September 1972) was a French essayist, novelist, and dramatist. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Biography Born in Paris, a descendant ...

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 Jacques Chessex (Payerne, 1 March 1934 – Yverdon-les-Bains, 9 October 2009) was a Swiss author and painter. Biography Chessex was born in 1934 in Payerne. From 1951 to 1953, he studied at Collège Saint-Michel in Fribourg, before undertaking ...

, to the great displeasure of

Michel Tournier Michel Tournier (; 19 December 1924 − 18 January 2016) 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'' i ...

who supported it in jury.

Themes

Fantasy

Having compared with

Jean Giono Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France. First period Jean Giono was born to a family of modest means, his father a cobbler of Piedmontese descent a ...

for his wild novels linked to elements and to

Louis-Ferdinand Céline Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches (27 May 1894 – 1 July 1961), better known by the pen name Louis-Ferdinand Céline ( , ) was a French novelist, polemicist and physician. His first novel ''Journey to the End of the Night'' (1932) won the '' Pr ...

for his "verbal excess", Grainville distanced himself from this inheritance by a

fantastique ''Fantastique'' is a French term for a literary and cinematic genre that overlaps with science fiction, horror, and fantasy. The ''fantastique'' is a substantial genre within French literature. Arguably dating back further than English lan ...

and

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

which impregnates his work: the mythological

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

(La Diane rousse), return to original animality (The Shadow of the animal), secrets and conspiracies (The black Fortresses), the narrator observer of

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

(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 Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous E ...

, Nouveau roman and "the academic ressassements of some realism", according to

Grainville opened a "new way" which led to the 21st century.

Painting

Grainville always enjoyed

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, which was his inspiration.

Works

Novels

* ''La Toison'', Gallimard, 1972 * ''La Lisière'', Gallimard, 1973 * ''L'Abîme'', Gallimard, 1974 * ''Les Flamboyants,'' Éditions du Seuil, 1976, - prix Goncourt * ''La Diane rousse'' (Red Diana), Éditions du Seuil, 1978 (variations on the myth of Orion). * ''Le Dernier viking'', Éditions du Seuil, 1982, * ''L'Ombre de la bête'', Balland, 1981 * ''Les Forteresses noires'', Seuil, 1982, * ''La Caverne céleste'', Éditions du Seuil, 1984,
''The Cave of Heaven''
Dalkey Archive Press, 1991, * ''Le Paradis des Orages'', le Grand livre du mois, 1986, * ''L'Atelier du peintre'', Éditions du Seuil, 1988 * ''L'Orgie, la Neige'', le Grand livre du mois, 1990 - prix Guillaume le Conquérant, by the Société des auteurs de Normandie. * ''Colère'', Éditions du Seuil, 1992, * ''Les anges et les faucons: roman'', Éditions du Seuil, 1994, * ''Le Lien'', Éditions du Seuil, 1996 * ''Le Tyran éternel'', Seuil, 1998 * ''Le Jour de la fin du monde une femme me cache'', 2001 * ''L'Atlantique et les Amants'', 2002 * ''La Joie d'Aurélie'', Seuil, 2004, * ''La Main blessée'', 2005 * ''Lumière du rat'', 2008 * '' Le Baiser de la pieuvre'' ('' The Kiss of the Octopus''), 2010 * ''Le Corps immense du président Mao'', 2011 * '' Bison'' — Grand prix Palatine for historic novel, 2014 * * *

Stories

* 1978 : ''Images du désir'', short stories, éditions

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

- Filipacchi. * 2015 : ''

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) e ...

'', collection Duetto, Nouvelles Lectures.

Books of art

Books for youth

* 1986 : ''Le plus beau des pièges'', roman illustrated by Arno in ''Je bouquine''. * 1993 : ''L'Arbre-piège'' (unillustrated reedition of ''Plus beau des pièges'', couverture d'

Enki Bilal Enki Bilal (born Enes Bilal; born 7 October 1951) is a French comic book creator, comics artist and film director. Biography Early life Bilal was born in Belgrade, PR Serbia, Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from ...

), collection Petit Point,

éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as ''Le Seuil'', is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' ...

. * 1995 : ''Le Secret de la pierre noire'', illustré par Dupuy-Berberian, Nathan (maison d'édition). * 2000 : ''Les Singes voleurs'' dans ''Les Singes voleurs - 6 histoires d'archéologie'' (collectif), éditions Fleurus (maison d'édition). * 2000 : ''Le Rire du géant'' dans ''Un os dans le rosbif - 6 histoires de pirates'' (collectif), éditions Fleurus (maison d'édition).

Joint publications and literary magazines

Prefaces

* 1980 : ''L'Homme tout nu'' by Catulle Mendès, éditions Hallier. * 1989 : ''L'Iris'' by Josh Westrich et Ben R. Hager, Thames & Hudson. * 1992 : ''La Normandie'' (collectif), éditions Larousse. * 1993 : ''La Semaine secrète de Vénus'' by

Pierre Mac Orlan Pierre Mac Orlan, sometimes written MacOrlan (born Pierre Dumarchey, February 26, 1882 – June 27, 1970), was a French novelist and songwriter. His novel '' Quai des Brumes'' was the source for Marcel Carné's 1938 film of the same name, starring ...

Arléa Arléa is a French publishing house created in 1986. Arléa publishes thirty new titles each year, including pocket ones. His catalog contains more than a thousand titles: the great classics of Antiquity (whether Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit or ...

. * 1995 : ''Liberté pour les ours!'' by

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to ...

, Éditions Points collection,

. * 1995 : ''La Cuisinière normande'' by Paul Touquet, under direction of Claude Tchou, éditions du Seuil. * 2004 : ''Bethsabée'' by

Torgny Lindgren Gustav Torgny Lindgren (16 June 1938 – 16 March 2017) was a Swedish writer. Lindgren was the son of Andreas Lindgren and Helga Björk. He studied in Umeå to become a teacher and worked as a teacher until the middle of the 1970s. For several y ...

, Babel collection, Actes Sud. * 2012 : ''Pourquoi aimez-vous "Les Travailleurs de la mer"?'', interview in Les travailleurs de la mer with

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 ...

, édition mise à jour en 2012, Garnier Frères collection

Radio dramas

* 1975 : ''L'Assaut'', réalisation d'Henri Soubeyran pour

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" sta ...

. * 2002 : ''Toi,

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

'',La genèse de la pièce, adaptation libre du mythe d'

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

et d'

, est racontée dans '' La Main blessée'',

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as ''Le Seuil'', is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil' ...

, 2005, p. 117 et suivantes. réalisation d'Anne Lemaître pour

, avec

Isabelle Carré Isabelle Carré (born 28 May 1971) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 70 films since 1989. She won a César Award for Best Actress for her role in '' Se souvenir des belles choses'' (2001), and has been nominated a further six ti ...

Cinema

* 1980: '' Le Voyage en douce'' by

Michel Deville Michel Deville (born 13 April 1931) is a French film director and screenwriter. Deville started his filmmaking career in the late 1950s, paralleling the emergence of the French New Wave directors. He never achieved the level of critical and int ...

, literary collaboration.

References

Bibliography

* Jeanne Polton, ''L'écriture de la sensualité dans le roman contemporain ( Duras, Grainville,

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, Sollers)'', Lille, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 1999. * Rachel Edwards, ''Myth and the Fiction of

and Patrick Grainville'', Lewiston, New York, Edwin Mellen Press Ltd, 2000. * Alain-Philippe Durand, ''Un monde techno : Nouveaux espaces électroniques dans le roman français des années 1980-1990'', Berlin, Weidler Buchverlag, 2004. * Marie-Odile Lainé, ''

une enfance en féerie
' dans ''Balade en

, sur les pas des écrivains'', Paris, Éditions Alexandrines, 2004 et, sous le titre ''Le Calvados des Ecrivains'', 2014. * Charlotte Baker, ''Enduring Negativity : Representations of Albinism in the Novels of Didier Destremau, Patrick Grainville and Williams Sassine'', Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, Peter Lang, 2011. * Dauda Yillah, ‘Patrick Grainville's Black African World: Dismantling or Bolstering Cultural Binarisms?’, Nottingham French Studies, 58,1 (2019), pp 82-101. ;Quotations (anthologies and trials) * ''Brève histoire des fesses'', par Jean-Luc Hennig, Zulma, 1995. * ''Le livre du plaisir'', présenté par

Catherine Breillat Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects ...

, Editions 1, 1999. * ''Le cheval est une femme comme une autre'', par Jean-Louis Gouraud, éditions Pauvert, 2001. * ''L'art est difficile'', par Jean-Baptiste Harang,

Éditions Julliard Éditions Julliard is a French publishing house. It was founded in 1942 by René Julliard. Julliard was known as a discoverer and publisher of talents, in particular Françoise Sagan and Jean d'Ormesson. After Julliard's death in July 1962, the ...

, 2004. * ''Le Chemin des livres'', par Philippe Le Guillou,

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published ...

, 2013.

External links

*''Myth and the fiction of Michel Tournier and Patrick Grainville'', Rachel Edwards, E. Mellen Press, 1999, {{DEFAULTSORT:Grainville, Patrick 1947 births Living people People from Villers-sur-Mer Writers from Normandy French literary critics Prix Goncourt winners French male non-fiction writers Lycée Henri-IV alumni Paris-Sorbonne University alumni Members of the Académie Française Le Figaro people