At 82, Régis Debray continues his mea culpa. He understood that aesthetic questions matter more than ideological wanderings. In where living pillars (Gallimard), he erected a statue to the glory of Julien Gracq, according to him “the patron” of writers: “Passing by, arriving from Paris, for a day in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, with this tongue-in-cheek , this reluctant enchanter, this recalcitrant placid, it was like changing eras and time zones, so that it took a day or two in the decompression chamber back home to regain a sense of propriety. this tidy man could prove to be disturbing, with little touches, a crooked smile. But it was wisdom on his part, so as not to waste his reserves by playing the breaker of plates. A rebellion, the less it is at risk. poster, the better it holds up.” It is true that Gracq never left to make the revolution in Bolivia…
Living between Paris and Saint-Florent-le-Vieil (in Maine-et-Loire), a discreet and homebody teacher, Louis Poirier, known as Julien Gracq, died in 2007 with the status of an elitist and cult writer – partly for having refused the Goncourt prize in 1951, which the jury wanted to award to the Shore of Syrtes. During his lifetime, he said he was “not in favor of showing the guest around the kitchens”. However, he bequeathed his house and all his archives to the Fondation de France. This allowed its historical publisher, José Corti, to publish some unpublished works: War Scrolls (2011), Sunset Lands (2014) and life nodes (2021). The latest, The Housereleased at the end of March, has already sold 15,000 copies – figures that are certainly less flashy than those of War by Céline, but which prove that the interest of connoisseurs is not weakening.
At the same time, his papers gave the BnF sufficient material to organize an exhibition, Julien Gracq, the shape of a work, which opens next week. You can see all the manuscripts of his classics, as well as curiosities such as the class notebooks of the young Poirier, then an anonymous student in Nantes. When we ask the curator of the exhibition, Jérôme Villeminoz, the annoying question (is Julien Gracq still the boss?), here is what he answers: “It was true for Debray’s generation. It is likely that for the next generation Gracq would not have the same authority, if only because he is no longer there to stand aside and continue to choose his subjects and his words. , he can certainly be a landmark, and remain so for a long time. There are several reasons why Gracq’s voice carries to us: the strong image of his position from above, his virtuosity in the handling of the language and his interest in ‘the face of the earth’ and the ‘habitable earth.’ Many texts today seem visionary. Among the personalities invited to contribute to the exhibition, several wished to speak about the geographer and traveler Gracq: Emmanuel Ruben, Aurélien Bellanger, Maylis de Kerangal – and these are young writers…”
“Gracq is not a difficult writer”
The thirty-year-old François-Henri Désérable, who had the opportunity to stay several weeks at the house of Julien Gracq, which has become a residence for authors, affirms that his literary essays remain references for him: above all Literature in the stomachbut also By reading by writing And drop caps. Academician Marc Lambron, for his part, ranks squarely drop caps in his favorite books.
More surprisingly, the popular Brive novelist Christian Signol cites A balcony in the forest among his favorite novels. He rereads it every year, and it inspires him: “All my characters show great humanity, like his, and great spirituality. In addition, I too use a lot of geographical or historical references. Gracq is not a difficult writer, just follow him where ‘thought lies down in favor of a better light’.” Gracq may no longer be the absolute boss, but let’s face it, being the idol of both Debray and Signol is a performance that commands respect.
Julien Gracq, the form of a work, exhibition at the BnF, from July 11 to September 3 in Paris.