This is the first full-length biography of one of the best-known and most influential French writers of our time, as celebrated for her films (Hiroshima Mon Amour) as for her novels (The Ravishing of Lol Stein, The Lover). It takes Duras from colonial Indochina (where she was born in 1914) to wartime France, through the intellectual skirmishes of the 1950s and leftist movements of the 1960s, up to the present time. An autobiographical writer by nature, Duras has poured her exotic life into her books, and Vircondelet is the first to separate fact from fiction, leading us to a greater appreciation of her inimitable fiction. Although it gives a full, chronological account of Duras's life and work, Duras is not a conventional biography. "In order to give an exact account of her life, her inner workings, " Vircondelet explains in his preface, "one needs to acquire and rediscover a secret, a kind of alchemy, the nature of her 'fluent writing, ' as she calls it." Employing a kind of "fluent writing" himself, Vircondelet brings a rare empathy to his task, allowing him to discover secret connections between the life and work. Both a mesmerizing biography and an innovative work of literary criticism, Duras is a bold and unforgettable achievement. First published in France in 1991, the book has been updated by the author for this English translation. It is illustrated with 37 photographs.

Duras: A Biography

Biographies & Memoirs

Vircondelet, Alain

Arts & Literature

Dalkey Archive Press

Une enfance algérienne

Literature & Fiction

CIXOUS, Hélène

COLLECTIFS

Dib, Mohammed

SEBBAR, Leïla

Tengour, Habib

ALLOULA, Malek

Farès, Nabile

Daniel, Jean

Dadoun, Roger

Cohen, Annie

BENSOUSSAN, Albert

Kacimi, Mohamed

Millecam, Jean-Pierre

Pélégri, Jean

Gallaire, Fatima

Bencheikh, Jamel Eddine

Contemporary

Gallimard]

This album reveals Balthus’s fascination with felines and is a perfect complement to the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition Balthus: Cats and Girls that opens in September 2013. Alain Vircondelet was a close friend of the late Balthus and originally wrote this text in intimate collaboration with the artist. He explains the symbolism within Balthus’s paintings and draws parallels between the sleepy, languishing forms of the girls and cats he painted. Balthus, who referred to himself as the Thirteenth King of Cats, regularly featured the feline form in his art, even as early as age nine, when he produced a story of his beloved Mitsou in forty Indian ink drawings. Balthus’s wife Setsuko and their daughter Harumi shared his deep affection for cats, and the family’s devotion becomes evident in this volume, which offers behind-the-scenes access into their home, featuring personal photographs, belongings, and reproductions of the artist’s cat paintings.

Balthus and Cats

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Flammarion

Venice: History, Architecture, Art, Lifestyle

A deliciously familiar yet seemingly untouchable and magical world, Venice has an unparalleled legacy of monuments, traditions, and culture dating back more than 1600 years. From the fogs that haunt its streets to the sunlight that bathes its churches, the beautiful city of Venice exists in another time. Sumptuously illustrated with over 300 photographs, this is the Venice that guidebooks do not show—the Venice that the people who live there love best. Exploring the history, architecture, art, day-to-day life, and the hidden treasures of this beautiful city, the comprehensive scope of this attractive boxed set is what distinguishes it from others of its kind. The first volume explores the historical legends of Venice as well as the Venice of the Doges and of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The second volume covers the city's art and architecture in depth—from St. Mark's Square to the biennales of contemporary art. In the third volume, the reader is taken inside the city itself—from its festivals, artisanal glassware, and edible delicacies, to the mythic cafés, restaurants, and bars where locals while away the day. Enticing accounts of the most memorable sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the city make this a unique insider's resource.

Venice: History, Art and Architecture, Lifestyle. THREE VOLUMES

Sagan, un charmant petit monstre

C'étaient Antoine et Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry

FAYARD

Albert Camus, fils d'Alger

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

En 1930, à Buenos-Aires où il vient d'être nommé directeur d'exploitation de la Compagnie Aeroposta Argntina, Saint Exupéry rencontre au cours d'une récepton, Consuelo Suncin Sandoval. C'est une jeune femme de 28 ans, très belle et très exubérante. Veuve de Gomez Carillo, consul à paris des Républiques sud-américaines et écrivain.    Coup de foudre et mariage en 1931. Consuelo vit auprès de Saint-Exupéry une existence bohême et excentrique. Trop souvent séparé le couple connaît des moments de dépression que leur imagination poétique parvient à dépasser.    La naissance du mythe Saint-Exupéry sépara néanmoins celle qui fut l'inspiratrice du Petit Prince (elle en fut la rose), et ses biographies, faute de documentation, décrirent Consuelo comme un accident plutôt encombrant.    La révélation d'un manuscrit jalousement conservé par les héritiers de Consuelo, totalement inédit, et consacré aux relations du couple écrit par Consuelo lors de son exil pendant la guerre en Amérique et aussitôt après, renouvelle toute la vision que l'on a de Saint-Exupéry.    Consuelo écrit avec le coeur, elle raconte dans une langue fraîche et pittoresque, la vie de deux enfants terribles qui ne peuvent se passer l'un de l'autre et que la vie s'acharne à séparer.    Aucune biographie ne pourra désormais ignorer un tel document. Il permet de mieux comprendre l'homme, il balaie toutes les interprétations admises jusqu'à ce jour sur ses rapports avec les femmes, sur sa mère, sur son désir de mort, sur son angoisse constante de ne pouvoir servir son propre pays, sur l'écrivain nocturne qu'il fut.    L'ouvrage est préfacé par Alain Vircondelet , auteur de plusieurs biographies (Duras, Charles de Foucauld, Camus, Pascal) et notamment d'un essai très remarqué sur Saint-Exupéry (Julliard 1994).

Mémoires de la rose

Saint-Exupéry, Consuelo de

Pocket

L'art jusqu'à la folie: Camille Claudel, Séraphine de Senlis, Aloïse Corbaz

DU ROCHER

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