Patrick Grainville


Patrick Grainville is a French novelist.
He spent his childhood in Villerville, a small town east of Deauville.
An associate professor of letters, he received the Prix Goncourt in 1976, 29 years old, for his fourth novel, Les Flamboyants.
He has written extensively on Africa, where he undertook a cooperative mission.
He is professor of French at the Lycée [Évariste Galois (Sartrouville)|Lycée Évariste Galois] in Sartrouville.
Grainville is also literary critic for Le Figaro. In 2018, he was elected to the Académie Française.

Biography

Grainville spent his childhood in Normandy, regularly going to hunt and poach with his father, businessman and mayor of Villerville. He attended the André Maurois lycee in Deauville, then Malherbe in Caen, before winning admission to his higher education at the Lycée Henri-IV 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 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, to the great displeasure of Michel Tournier who supported it in jury.

Themes

Fantasy

Having compared with Jean Giono for his wild novels linked to elements and to Louis-Ferdinand Céline for his "verbal excess", Grainville distanced himself from this inheritance by a fantastique and dream which impregnates his work: the mythological Amazon, return to original animality, secrets and conspiracies, the narrator observer of underworld, or the animals who manage the destiny of men. Writer of the two centuries, following the example of Huysmans but having digested Proust, Nouveau roman and "the academic ressassements of some realism", according to Michel Tournier Grainville opened a "new way" which led to the 21st century.

Painting

Grainville always enjoyed painting, which was his inspiration.

Works

Novels

La Toison, Gallimard, 1972La Lisière, Gallimard, 1973L'Abîme, Gallimard, 1974Les Flamboyants, Éditions du Seuil, 1976, – prix GoncourtLa Diane rousse, Éditions du Seuil, 1978.Le Dernier viking, Éditions du Seuil, 1982, L'Ombre de la bête, Balland, 1981Les Forteresses noires, Seuil, 1982, La Caverne céleste, Éditions du Seuil, 1984,
  • *, Dalkey Archive Press, 1991, Le Paradis des Orages, le Grand livre du mois, 1986, L'Atelier du peintre, Éditions du Seuil, 1988L'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, 1996Le Tyran éternel, Seuil, 1998Le Jour de la fin du monde une femme me cache, 2001L'Atlantique et les Amants, 2002La Joie d'Aurélie, Seuil, 2004, La Main blessée, 2005Lumière du rat, 2008Le Baiser de la pieuvre, 2010Le Corps immense du président Mao, 2011Bison – Grand prix Palatine for historic novel, 2014
*

Stories

Books for youth

  • 1986 : Le plus beau des pièges, roman illustrated by Arno in Je bouquine.
  • 1993 : L'Arbre-piège, collection Petit Point, éditions du Seuil.
  • 1995 : Le Secret de la pierre noire, illustré par Dupuy-Berberian, Nathan.
  • 2000 : Les Singes voleurs dans Les Singes voleurs – 6 histoires d'archéologie, éditions Fleurus.
  • 2000 : Le Rire du géant dans Un os dans le rosbif – 6 histoires de pirates, éditions Fleurus.

Prefaces

Radio dramas

Cinema