La sélection de / Vincent Michéa : #1

"One of the most beautiful novels of love and friendship."
Vincent Michéa (VM)

Another country (Another country, 1962), is a novel by James Baldwin set in the Greenwich Village of the 1950s. It deals with many themes that were taboo at the time of its publication, including racial segregation, bisexuality and interracial couples. In this book, Baldwin once again establishes himself as one of the most brilliant spokespersons for the black minority in the United States.

"A visionary utopian. Classic. I was his driver in the summer of '98. We went together once to Beaubourg (by subway) and twice to the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, Iéna station. He was doing painting and sculpture at his home in Neuilly." VM

Nicknamed 'Le Corbusier' of fashion, André Courrèges, born in 1923 in Pau, is a French couturier and founder of the Courrèges fashion house. He promoted miniskirts and trousers for women, and in the early 1960s he created a fashion that was described as "futuristic, functional, architectural, symbol of its time" and which inspired many designers by its geometric shapes and the omnipresence of white.

"Max Frisch is Swiss, an architect, a novelist and a playwright. He builds his writings like architecture. A great contemporary romantic." VM

Born in 1911 in Zurich, Max Frisch is a writer and architect from German-speaking Switzerland. A member of the Olten Group, he is considered one of the most important writers of post-war German-language literature. In his work, Frisch paid particular attention to issues of personal identity, morality and political commitment. In Montauk (1978), Max Frisch gives the autobiographical text, the diary as a literary form, the dimension of the imagination and the significance of the novel.


"Raymond Carver, that's life!!" VM

Raymond Carver, born in 1938 in Oregon in the United States, is an American writer and poet, primarily considered a leading short story writer. Often described as a 'minimalist' writer, his writing is characterized by stylistic simplicity, elegant and simple language, and a realism of ordinary drama. Published in 1983, The Vitamins of Happiness is a collection of short stories that paints a portrait of the social reality of the American middle class in the late 1970s.

"He's one of those creators who have changed mediums to express their ideas, their points of view more broadly. Linton Kwezi Johnson did the same with his poems set to music. They're both very politically engaged." VM

Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) is a major Senegalese writer, director, actor and screenwriter of contemporary Africa, known for his militant bias on political and social issues. "Le Mandat" (Mandabi), released in 1968, is an adaptation of Ousmane Sembène's eponymous novel.

"The best text on Paleolithic art and art in general. A sensitive, aesthetic and humanistic approach to plastic creation. One must love caves!" VM

Born in 1897, Georges Bataille is a French librarian and writer. His work is composed of works of literature but also of anthropology, philosophy, economics, sociology and history of art. His essay Lascaux ou la naissance de l'art (Lascaux or the Birth of Art), published in 1955, is a testament to this diversity of genres.