Rights available.
“Stitch: a sharp pain appearing in the side of the body, whose exact causes to this date are still not well understood. Suddenly you are in pain, your breath is short, as if asphyxiated and you have to stop.” Then you have to grit your teeth and start again.
I could very easily place the origin of this stitch. This sentence: “The slander has prevailed, you have to turn over a new leaf.” And the leaf was me. And so I was told of my dismissal of my post as director of the Monde des livres. My breath had been taken away, as if asphyxiated…
But to start again, didn't I need to go further back, get deep in? What had escaped my understanding of this world I thought mine? And what had I wanted to ignore about myself? I had to review my career path which started about fifty years ago in a small provincial town ‘on the wrong side of the bridge.’
Without this stitch which ‘forced me to stop,’ would I have started this journey? Not sure.
This is an unexpected book, Josyane Savigneau’s first personal story, in which she allows herself to use the personal pronoun ‘I.’ This piece of writing is very much like her - uncompromising, without smugness, and gradually revealing a secret emotion that will surprise and move readers well beyond the borders of this small literary world.
Josyane Savigneau was born in 1951 in Châtellerault. In 1977 she joined Le Monde and since 1983 she has contributed to the Monde des livres, section which she headed from 1991 to 2005. She was also the news editor of the cultural service from 1995 to 2002. She wrote two biographies: Marguerite Yourcenar, l’invention d’une vie (Gallimard, 1990) and Carson McCullers, un cœur de jeune fille (Stock, 1995).
L'auteur
Josyane Savigneau est née en 1951 à Châtellerault.
Elle est entrée au Monde en 1977 et a collaboré, à partir de 1983, au Monde des livres qu’elle dirigera de 1991 à 2005. Elle a également été rédactrice en chef du service culture de 1995 à 2002.
Elle est l’...
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