Tiphaine Samoyault (June 1968,

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

) is a French university lecturer, literary critic, and novelist, specializing in the work of

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

. She is the niece of

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist

Blandine Verlet Blandine Verlet (27 February 1942 – 30 December 2018) was a French harpsichordist and a harpsichord teacher, who is known internationally for her recordings of works by François Couperin. Career Born in Paris into a musical family of art hist ...

and writer, academic and psychoanalyst Agnès Verlet. In 2015, she received the Grand Prize in Non-Fiction from the

Société des gens de lettres The Société des gens de lettres de France (SGDLF; ; ) is a writers' association founded in 1838 by the notable French authors George Sand, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas. It is a private association recognised in France as ...

Early life and education

Tiphaine Samoyault was born in Boulogne-Billancourt in June 1968. She grew up in

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

, in the

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, includ ...

, where her father, Jean-Pierre Samoyault, was curator. This childhood is evoked in her first novel, ''La Cour des Adieux'', named after the cour d'Honneur of the palace, where

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

said his farewells. Her childhood was immersed in music, notably at the

American Conservatory The Fontainebleau Schools were founded in 1921, and consist of two schools: ''The American Conservatory'', and the ''School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau''. History When the American Expeditionary Forces entered the First World War, the command ...

in Fontainebleau, directed at the time by

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

, and located near her parents' apartments in the château. A graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Samoyault wrote her doctoral thesis on (1996) and her

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

thesis on (2003).

Career

After working at the Université Paris-VIII, she became Professor of Comparative Literature at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3. Until June 2012, she headed the comparative literature department at Université Paris-VIII. A former resident of the

Villa Médicis The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic c ...

(2000–2001), Samoyault is also a novelist and translator of, among other works, portions of the new edition of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's ''

Ulysses Ulysses is the Latin name for Odysseus, a legendary Greek hero recognized for his intelligence and cunning. He is famous for his long, adventurous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, as narrated in Homer's Odyssey. Ulysses may also refer ...

'', and of

David Shulman David Shulman (November 12, 1912 – October 30, 2004) was an American lexicographer and cryptographer. Shulman contributed many early usages to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and is listed among "Readers and contributors from collections" for ...

and Charles Malamoud's essay ''Ta'ayushn : journal d'un combat pour la paix : Israël Palestine, 2002-2005'' (Le Seuil, 2006). A member of the reading committee at

Editions du Seuil Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Records ...

, she also contributes to

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 ...

and was a contributor to until September 2015. She is a member of the editorial board of the online journal . Since 2022, Samoyault has been writing a serial for .

Awards and honours

* Grand prize in non-fiction,

(2015) * Longlisted,

Jan Michalski Prize Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (French: Prix Jan Michalski) is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language. It is meant to recognize authors from around the world and world liter ...

(2015)

Selected works

Essays

* ''Excès du roman : essai'', Paris, Maurice Nadeau, 1999 * ''Littérature et mémoire du présent'', Nantes, Pleins feux, 2001 (fascicule) * ''L'intertextualité : mémoire de la littérature'', Paris, Nathan, 2001 ; rééd. A. Colin, Paris, 2005 * ''La montre cassée : forme et signification d'un motif dans les arts du temps'', Verdier, Lagrasse, 2004 * ''Traduction et violence'', Seuil, 2020

Children's documentary

* ''Le monde des pictogrammes'', Paris, Circonflexe, 1995 - English edition: ''Alphabetical order : how the alphabet began'', New York, Penguin / Viking, 1996

Biographies

* ''Roland Barthes'', Paris, Le Seuil, 2015

Introductions or commentaries to major works of French literature

* ''Électre de

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

'' (1997) * ''W ou le souvenir d'enfance de

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Ho ...

'' (1997) * ''Impressions d'Afrique de

Raymond Roussel Raymond Roussel (; 20 January 1877 – 14 July 1933) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French litera ...

'' (2005) * ''Locus solus de Raymond Roussel'' (2005) * ''Le Grand Meaulnes d'

Alain-Fournier Henri-Alban Fournier (; 3 October 1886 – 22 September 1914),Mémoire des hommes
Secrétariat ...

'' (2009)

Novels and short stories

* ''La Cour des adieux'', Maurice Nadeau, Paris, 1999 * ''Météorologie du rêve'', Le Seuil, Paris, 2000 * ''Les Indulgences'', Le Seuil, Paris, 2003 * ''La Main négative'', Editions Argol, Paris, 2008 * ''Bête de cirque'', Le Seuil, Paris, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samoyault, Tiphaine 1968 births Living people French literary critics French academics French novelists Writers from Boulogne-Billancourt