the three notable meetings of the journalist – L’Express

In September 1947, Madeleine Chapsal married Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, five years after their meeting in Megève during the war. The young woman is in the front row when her husband, an editorialist at World, and Françoise Giroud, editorial director of the magazine Shedecide to launch a newspaper.

In his book The man of my lifethe former wife of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber candidly recounts the sentimental encounter between her husband and Françoise Giroud and describes the intellectual alchemy that reigns between the founders of the weekly: “Jean-Jacques is full of new ideas – he has dozens of them per day – and Françoise knows how to retain those which seem to her to be able to come true, and she does everything possible to make them a reality. It is from these two exceptional and complementary talents that L’Express will emerge.

A privileged witness to this journalistic adventure, Madeleine Chapsal is also an actress. Passionate about literature, she signed three literary notes in the first issue published on May 16, 1953. Thus was born a collaboration which ended 25 years later, in 1978, when Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber sold L’Express to billionaire Jimmy Goldsmith . As for the union between Madeleine and Jean-Jacques, it ended in 1960 but the first wife of JJSS will always remain very close to the Servan-Schreiber family. It was to Sabine de Fouquières, the second wife of JJSS and her 4 sons, that Madeleine Chapsal dedicated her story The man of my life.

During her quarter of a century spent at L’Express, Madeleine Chapsal met the greatest personalities from all sides. “I can call anyone I want: Michel Leiris, Jean Paulhan, André Breton, Claude Lévi-Strauss, they answer me eagerly and I get my appointment. These men of the pen, even the most famous, all dream of appear in this weekly that we talk about and which reaches more and more readers, L’Express. This power which is given to me by the newspaper, I never take it for myself. I know that what matters is to transmit as accurately as possible, while preserving their style, their singularity, the words of these men and women, all of an immense culture. I teach myself the trade, on the ground: the best thing I can do is let their words come, which are addressed, through me, to the invisible, but very present, crowd. , readers.”*

Among the many major interviews conducted by Madeleine Chapsal during her years at L’Express, we invite you to rediscover three significant encounters.

Journey to the end of hatred… with Louis-Ferdinand Céline

In 1957, Céline marked her return to the literary scene with the publication of her work From one castle to another. Madeleine Chapsal meets the writer who became an outcast in his house in Meudon through the writer Roger Nimier (1925-1962), leader of the literary movement known as the “Hussards”.

In 2011, she told the magazine Read the tensions aroused in the editorial staff: “The idea of ​​giving a lot of space to Céline really stirred them up. […] I returned very proud of myself to L’Express, but there, because of Céline’s provocative remarks, a general conference discussion began. It was decided to reflect our reluctance in a short introduction. But there was no censorship and we did well to publish this interview, because there was very little about Céline at the time.”

On the progress of the meeting, Madeleine Chapsal adds: “He had a sense of staging. He received us outside, in front of his house. There was a cat, a broom and cacti. It was a bit of a wasteland . I didn’t see his wife. I had the feeling that he lived a little as he wanted, freely. He was dressed like someone who sweeps in front of his house or does gardening. It was obvious that he was of remarkable, superior intelligence. In fact, I didn’t have much to say. At the first question, he launched into a dazzling monologue. I didn’t have to interrupt him only once and so I added the questions afterwards. At that time, he had stopped attacking the Jews. His new pet peeve was the Chinese. We were there to make him go as far as possible He challenged us several times: ‘You won’t dare publish this!’ We didn’t cut it, of course.”

> Read the interview: Journey to the end of hatred… with Louis-Ferdinand Céline

The first interview with Jacques Lacan

In May 1957, Jacques Lacan received Madeleine Chapsal at his home on rue de Lille and delivered to the readers of L’Express the keys to psychoanalysis. He compares Freud to Champollion: “The psychoanalyst is not an explorer of unknown continents or deep seas, he is a linguist: he learns to decipher the writing which is there, before his eyes, offered for all to see. But which remains indecipherable until we know the laws, the key.” Sixty years after this interview, psychoanalysis is still firmly established in France, in universities, health centers, and the media, but is more neglected and ignored in the majority of countries in the world.

> Read the interview: Jacques Lacan delivers the keys to psychoanalysis

Face-to-face with Françoise Sagan after her car accident

In April 1957, Françoise Sagan suffered a serious accident aboard her Aston Martin, which was being driven at high speed. A few months later, Madeleine Chapsal questions him about his vision of life. “I say that trials bring nothing because they are rarely sufficient to dry up these two deep tendencies which are: a certain appetite for happiness and a certain abandonment to unhappiness. This balance, or this imbalance, in a person, varies little.”

> Read the interview: Françoise Sagan: “I would like to write good books”

* Extract of The man of my life (Fayard, 2004).