Michel Bittern

Michel Bittern , born with Mons-in-Barœul the September 14th 1926, is a Romancier and Essayiste French.

Biography

Michel Butor was professor of French language abroad (in particular in Egypt) and professor of philosophy at the International School of Geneva at the Fifties. Then it began a university career as professor of literature, first of all in the United States, then in France at the University of Nice and finally with the Université of Geneva until its retirement in 1991.

Michel Butor is known general public as novelist, and in particular like the author of the Modification , novel writes almost entirely with the second anybody (“you”). This image of the author is probably unjust, in the direction where Michel Butor definitively broke with the romantic writing after Degrés , in 1960, with the publication of Mobile in 1962.

After having tried in its first books to reconcile the traditional shape of the novel, and the will to represent the contemporary world, being thus attached to the group of the New Novel (Nathalie Sarraute, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon), it chose experimental new forms, starting from Mobile , great work made of various joinings (American encyclopedias, descriptions of cars, articles of newspapers, etc) to try to give an account of the astonishing reality of the contemporary United States.

This will of experimentation to represent the world is found in all its works, which they are accounts of voyage (series Genius of the place), of accounts of dreams ( Matière of dreams ), or of its very many collaborations with painters and contemporary artists (collected in the series of the Illustrations ). This work with the painters ended little by little up constituting a new side of its literary interventions by its approach “on”, “with” then “in” painting. The critical text of the beginnings (for memory its first art critic devoted to max Ernst date of 1945) ended up being replaced by a myriad of works to more or less limited pulling which question the concept of cross works.

Michel Butor since forty years thus positions in a poetic space, in the broad sense, with the detriment of an approach more traditionally romantic. He is at present one of the French-speaking alive writers of a recognized international stature (in Europe, in the USA, in Japan, in China, in Australia, etc) He lives and works with Lucinges, a village of High Savoy near to Geneva.

In 2006, comes to begin the publication of its complete works in ten volumes with the editions of the Difference under the direction of Mireille Fix-Gruber.

Bibliography (selection)

Novels

  • Passage of Milan (1954)

  • the Timetable (1956)
  • the Modification (1957)
  • Degrees (1960)

Poetry

  • Work of approach

Experimental texts

  • Mobile: study for a representation of the United States (1962)

  • overhead Grid (1962)
  • Portrait of the artist in young monkey (1967)
  • Genius of the place: series of five works ( Genius of the place (1958), Or (1971), Boomerang (1979), Transit (1992) and Gyroscope (1999)
  • Matter of dreams : series of five works (1975 - 1985)

Tests

  • Repertory with V (1960 - 1982)

  • Return of the boomerang (1988)
  • poetic utility (1995)
  • Improvisations on Balzac. Three volumes: (ISBN 2-7291-1222-7) (ISBN 2-7291-1221-9), (ISBN 2-7291-1220-0), editions the Difference 1998

Writings on painting

  • Description of San Marco (1963)

  • words in painting (1969)
  • Illustrations to IV: series of four works (1964-1976)
  • Hérold (1964)
  • Notes around Mondrian in All work paints of Piet Mondrian (1976)
  • Vanité (1980)
  • Envois (1980)
  • the rod (1981)
  • Express (Sendings 2) (1982)
  • Vieira Da Silva (1983)
  • Avant-goût with IV (1984-1992)
  • Diego Giacometti (1985)
  • the eye of Prague. Dialog with Charles Baudelaire around work of Jiři Kolář (1986)
  • the dream of Paul Delvaux in Delvaux. Catalog work painted (1975)
  • Dialog with Eugene Delacroix on the entry of Croisés in Constantinople (1991)
  • the mosques of New York or the art of Mark Rotko in Mark Rotko (1999)
  • Dialog with Rembrandt Van Rijn on Samson and Dalila (2005)

Writings and talks on painting in collaboration with Michel Sicard:

  • Dotremont and its écrivures. Maintenance on the logogrammes (1978)

  • Ania Staritsky. Matters and talismans (1978)
  • Problems of the contemporary art starting from work of Henri Maccheroni (1983)
  • Alechinsky Borders and edges (1984)
  • Alechinsky (1984)
  • Pierre Alechinsky ABC of Correspondence (1986)
  • Postface with the Treated exciting modern Honore de Balzac, illustrated by Pierre Alechinsky, 1989
  • Alechinsky Printing (1992)

Books of artist

Michel Butor collaborates regularly with painters to carry out books of artist.

In 1981 he collaborates with a work " Revolutions of Calendriers" with the review of art HOLE (NR. 2) In same volume one finds creations of Bram van Velde, Charles Juliet, Fred-Andre Holzer, Alexandre Voisard and Nello Finotti. (www.trou.ch)

Enormous production: cataloguing plank 1500 titles at present. An exposure was held in 2006 to the National library from France in Paris under the title " Michel Bittern, the writing nomade". An important French-speaking conference followed Michel Butor: Removals of the literature under the presidency of Mireille Fix-Gruber.

  • ''' Songs of the gravitation ''' carried out in collaboration with the painter Georges Airspeed indicator

  • ''' the Catalan Garden ''' realized in collaboration with the painter Georges Airspeed indicator
  • & backward flow ''' carried out in 2006 in collaboration with the graveure Ennifer-Courteous Khédija
  • illusory of very old Japan '' realized in collaboration with the painter Genevieve Besse

In November 2005 he reiterates by a whole of “crossed work”, meets organized with Marrakech in a residence of artists brought together around him, organized by association the Rose de Dadès on an invitation of the French Institute of Marrakech. The artists around Michel Butor are: Ouida Abdelghani, Salah Benjakan, Mylène Besson, Marie-OJ Bittern, Larbi Cherkaoui, Rachid El Bankdi, Maxime Godard, Pierre leloup and Mohamed Mourabiti. In March 2007, is organized an exposure entitled “the book in all its states” to the City of Arts of Chambéry devoted to the exposure of work carried out to Marrakech. March 15th accompanied by several of these artists, Michel Bittern, in a conference, will reveal his preliminary step and the adventures of this meeting with Marrakech through the reading of the poetries written with this intention and his comments.

Critical works on the author

  • Christian Skimao and Bernard Teulon-Nouailles Michel Butor Who are you? (1988)

Price

  • 1956 : Fénéon price for the Timetable

  • 1957: Price Renaudot for the Modification
  • 1960: Price of Literary Criticism for Repertory
  • 1998: Grand Prix of the romanticism Chateaubriant for Improvisations on Balzac
  • 2006: Mallarmé price for Sixteen Glosses

External bonds

  • Bio-bibliography of Michel Bittern Art Not France

  • the writing nomadeexposition of the National library, Site François Mitterrand
  • In ECART/Michel BITTERN a documentary film 52 ' of Jean-Philippe Perrot - a portrait of the writer Michel Bittern
  • Dictionary Michel Bittern under the direction of Henri Desoubeaux
  • Personal site of Michel Bittern
  • Biblioweb: biography and bibiography
  • Photography

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