Pirotte proposes a journey into the only continent that is still worth surveying nowadays, because it still is unknown to us: that of man, and of the debates that are held in his head. The head of a reader, of a wine-lover, of an utterly delicate spirit thrown into a vulgar world that upsets and suffocates him. Is there any better way to escape from this than what is promised by wine and literature? The first does not go without the second, and the latter is nothing but dryness and deadliness without the former. To stroll around a wine cellar with Jean-Claude Pirotte means moving between books and barrels, accompanied by the best of possible guides and his incomparable voice. A journey “by leaps and bounds” that would not have been refused by Montaigne, since it treats of “human matters, friendship and philosophy.”
Jean-Claude Pirotte, born in 1939, has been publishing stories, novels, and poems for over forty years, which have made him one of the most important authors of the French language. His latest book, Une adolescence en Gueldre, was awarded the Prix des deux Magots 2006.