Patrick Grainville

Patrick Grainville (; born 1 June 1947 Villers-sur-Mer, Calvados) 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 ("The Flasher").

He has written extensively on Africa, where he undertook a cooperative mission. He is professor of French at the 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 (La Diane rousse), return to original animality (The Shadow of the animal), secrets and conspiracies (The black Fortresses), the narrator observer of underworld (The eternal Tyrant), or the animals who manage the destiny of men (Light of the rat, The Kiss of the octopus). 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, 1972 La Lisière, Gallimard, 1973 L'Abîme, Gallimard, 1974 Les Flamboyants, Éditions du Seuil, 1976, – prix Goncourt La Diane rousse (Red Diana), Éditions du Seuil, 1978 (variations on the myth of Orion). Le Dernier viking, Éditions du Seuil, 1982, L'Ombre de la bête, Balland, 1981 Les Forteresses noires, Seuil, 1982, La Caverne céleste, Éditions du Seuil, 1984, The Cave of Heaven, Dalkey Archive Press, 1991, Le Paradis des Orages, le Grand livre du mois, 1986, L'Atelier du peintre, Éditions du Seuil, 1988 L'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, 1996 Le Tyran éternel, Seuil, 1998 Le Jour de la fin du monde une femme me cache, 2001 L'Atlantique et les Amants, 2002 La Joie d'Aurélie, Seuil, 2004, La Main blessée, 2005 Lumière du rat, 2008 Le Baiser de la pieuvre (The Kiss of the Octopus), 2010 Le Corps immense du président Mao, 2011 Bison – Grand prix Palatine for historic novel, 2014

Stories 1978 : Images du désir, short stories, éditions Playboy – Filipacchi. 2015 : Marguerite Duras, collection Duetto, Nouvelles Lectures.

Books of art

Books for youth 1986 : Le plus beau des pièges, roman illustrated by Arno in Je bouquine. 1993 : L'Arbre-piège (unillustrated reedition of Plus beau des pièges, couverture d'Enki Bilal), collection Petit Point, éditions du Seuil. 1995 : Le Secret de la pierre noire, illustré par Dupuy-Berberian, Nathan (maison d'édition). 2000 : Les Singes voleurs dans Les Singes voleurs – 6 histoires d'archéologie (collectif), éditions Fleurus (maison d'édition). 2000 : Le Rire du géant dans Un os dans le rosbif – 6 histoires de pirates (collectif), éditions Fleurus (maison d'édition).

Joint publications and literary magazines

Prefaces 1980 : L'Homme tout nu by Catulle Mendès, éditions Hallier. 1989 : L'Iris by Josh Westrich et Ben R. Hager, Thames & Hudson. 1992 : La Normandie (collectif), éditions Larousse. 1993 : La Semaine secrète de Vénus by Pierre Mac Orlan, Arléa. 1995 : Liberté pour les ours! by John Irving, Éditions Points collection, éditions du Seuil. 1995 : La Cuisinière normande by Paul Touquet, under direction of Claude Tchou, éditions du Seuil. 2004 : Bethsabée by Torgny Lindgren, Babel collection, Actes Sud. 2012 : Pourquoi aimez-vous "Les Travailleurs de la mer"?, interview in Les travailleurs de la mer with Victor Hugo, édition mise à jour en 2012, Garnier Frères collection

Radio dramas 1975 : L'Assaut, réalisation d'Henri Soubeyran pour France Culture. 2002 : Toi, Osiris, réalisation d'Anne Lemaître pour France Culture, avec Isabelle Carré.

Cinema 1980: Le Voyage en douce by Michel Deville, literary collaboration.