Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers
Encyclopedia
Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers, born on October 22, 1939 in Versailles
, is a French
writer
and poet
.
, now Lycée Henri Moissan
. In 1956, he entered a classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles
, a two-year preparatory course for enrollment in one of France's “grandes écoles
” at Paris' Lycée Henri-IV. Having graduated from ENSICA
as an engineer in 1962, he spent twenty years working as an executive in the industrial sector and for a private firm running public services. After that, he became associate manager at Bossard Consultants. There, he contributed to develop social dynamics
under Jean-Christian Fauvet's supervision. In 1992, he created a consultancy firm specialised in instructional design and based in Boulogne-Billancourt
.
He began to write in 1954, encouraged by the poet Jehan Despert who published some of his work in his Cahiers de l'Île de France and got him a column in the daily newspaper Figaro
Since 1959, he has worked with cultural associations, among which:
Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers belongs to the Société des poètes français, the French Poets Society.
Besides his professional and literary work, he is involved in various types of political and social action. In particular:
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, is a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Biography
Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers went to high school at the collège Albert de Mun, at Michel Bouts' école du Gai Savoir, a school based on the principles of active learning, then at the co-ed lycée of MeauxMeaux
Meaux is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located east-northeast from the center of Paris. Meaux is a sub-prefecture of the department and the seat of an arondissement...
, now Lycée Henri Moissan
Henri Moissan
Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan was a French chemist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds.-Biography:...
. In 1956, he entered a classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles
Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Écoles
The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles , commonly called classes prépas or prépas, are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist in two very selective years , acting as a prep course with the main goal of training undergraduate students for enrolment in one of the...
, a two-year preparatory course for enrollment in one of France's “grandes écoles
Grandes écoles
The grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments outside the main framework of the French university system. The grandes écoles select students for admission based chiefly on national ranking in competitive written and oral exams...
” at Paris' Lycée Henri-IV. Having graduated from ENSICA
ENSICA
The École nationale supérieure d'ingénieurs de constructions aéronautiques , meaning National Higher School of aeronautical constructions, is a French engineering school founded in 1945. It is located in Toulouse....
as an engineer in 1962, he spent twenty years working as an executive in the industrial sector and for a private firm running public services. After that, he became associate manager at Bossard Consultants. There, he contributed to develop social dynamics
Social dynamics
Social dynamics can refer to the behavior of groups that results from the interactions of individual group members as well to the study of the relationship between individual interactions and group level behaviors...
under Jean-Christian Fauvet's supervision. In 1992, he created a consultancy firm specialised in instructional design and based in Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....
.
He began to write in 1954, encouraged by the poet Jehan Despert who published some of his work in his Cahiers de l'Île de France and got him a column in the daily newspaper Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
Since 1959, he has worked with cultural associations, among which:
- from 1962 to 1974 the youth club (“Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture”), then the cultural center of ChellesChellesChelles is the name of two communes of France:*Chelles, Oise in the Oise département*Chelles, Seine-et-Marne in the Seine-et-Marne département, 18 km east of ParisIt may also refer to:*Chelles Abbey...
where he worked with playwright, singer and actor Michel Heim, among others; - from 1978 to 1983 the ACILECE, a teachers' bookselling and publishing cooperative that was founded by writer and poet Maurice Fombeure;
- since 1983, the association La Jointée, which publishes the literary review Jointure, which he founded along with Jacques Arnold, Georges Friedenkraft, Daniel Sauvale and several other poets, and where he held the position of president and treasurer for several years;
- since 2004 the Aire-Falguière theatre which he administrates.
Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers belongs to the Société des poètes français, the French Poets Society.
Besides his professional and literary work, he is involved in various types of political and social action. In particular:
- from 2002 to 2008 he was neighbourhood councillor in the town of Boulogne-Billancourt, where he lives.;
- as a representative of the ENSICA alumni, he played a role in merging the engineering schools SUPAERO and ENSICAENSICAThe École nationale supérieure d'ingénieurs de constructions aéronautiques , meaning National Higher School of aeronautical constructions, is a French engineering school founded in 1945. It is located in Toulouse....
, which formed the ISAEISAEThe Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace or ISAE is the name for the French aerospace engineering school in Toulouse part of University of Toulouse and Aerospace Valley, resulting from the so called "rapprochement" between SUPAERO and ENSICA...
(Space and Aeronautics Institute) in 2007, and in merging the two alumni associations, into the “Amicale ISAE,” which he administrates.
Poetry
- Published works
- Le cristal opaque, (1974), original drawings by Tardivo, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, collection Miroir oblique. Currently out of print, this book is now published under a Free Art LicenseFree Art licenseThe Free Art License is a copyleft license that grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works without needing the author's explicit permission.The Free Art License recognizes and protects these rights...
on the site Culture libre, without illustrations but with an introduction - L'arbre parole (1979), drawings by Odile Damon-Leclerc, José Millas-Martin, collection Grand Fond. Currently out of print, this book is now published under a Free Art LicenseFree Art licenseThe Free Art License is a copyleft license that grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works without needing the author's explicit permission.The Free Art License recognizes and protects these rights...
on the site Culture libre, without illustrations - Le sculpteur d'eaux, (1987), preface by Jacques Arnold, postface by Michel Martin de Villemer, followed by Travaux d'un sculpteur d'eaux, which received the Jacques Normand Award from the Society of Men of Letters of France
- La vigne adamantine (1999)
- L'opéra des tarots dorés, partly published in Soif de mots, tome 7, éditions du Brontosaure, January 2000
- Le cristal opaque, (1974), original drawings by Tardivo, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, collection Miroir oblique. Currently out of print, this book is now published under a Free Art License
- Regular and occasional contributions to many literary reviews :
- Jehan Despert's Les cahiers de l'Île de France
- La revue de l'ACILECE
- Jointure
- Saraswati, edited by Silvaine Arabo
- Phréatique, edited by poet Gérard Murail
- Envols, Vermillon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – edited by Hédi BouraouiHédi BouraouiHédi Bouraoui is a Tunisian/Canadian poet, novelist and academic, who regularly deals with themes involving the transcendence of cultural boundaries....
et Jacques Flamand - Les cahiers de l'Alba, edited by Mireille Disdero and Alain Castets
- Publication in anthologies:
- Poètes de Paris et de l'Île de France, (1957), Paris: éditions de la Revue Moderne
- Perspectives Spirituelles (1987), Monaco: Regain
- Jointhologie, invitation au voyage, (1990), Perpignan: La Jointée
- Eros en Poésie, (2002), Paris: Librairie Galerie Racine, with the participation of the site Ecrits...vains?
Prefaces and other paratexts
- Preface of Michel Bouts' posthumous novel: Sang Breton, and detailed biography of the author
- Preface of the anthology about birds complied by Moroccan writer Joseph Ouaknine: Savez-vous parler cui-cui ?
- Postface of Francine Caron's book: Parcs et lunaparks de Paris, 150 haïkus écolo-ludico-bucoliques
- Preface of Christine Guilloux's collection of prose poems: Passages
- Preface of Patricia Laranco's poetry book: Lointitude
- Preface, and index of rare and curious words in Michel Martin de Villemer's book: Morgeline pour ma veuve
Reviews and readings
- Two contributions to the collective work Emmanuel Lochac, ses visages et leurs énigmes, 1994 :
- Le choc Lochac
- à propos des Sixains de persévérance
- Essay about the book Le Miel de l'abîme by Marc AlynMarc AlynMarc Alyn , is a French poet.-Life:He was mobilized to Algeria in 1957.He lived far from Paris, a farmhouse in Uzès, Gard....
, in Jointure number 68, spring 2001 - Reconstructive reading of Marc-Williams Debono's collection L'Épissure des mots, in Jointure no. 90, September 2009
Essays and articles
- Comment lit-on Rimbaud, quand on a dix-sept ans ?, in Les cahiers de l'Alba, number 6-7 special issue about Arthur RimbaudArthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, second semester 2005, pages 101 to 106 - Triangulation de la perception : le biface et l’os de seiche, in Plastir no. 15, June 2009
Publishing and poetic action
- Directs the literary collection Les oeuvres jointes
- Creates and runs writing workshops and poetic performances
- Co-produced the CD-rom Henri Landier ou la cohérence d'une oeuvre along with philosopher Bruno Picot
- Creates and acts as webmaster for sites about writers and poets:
- Nicole Louvier, Nicole Louvier, independent woman, poet, musician and novelist
- Jacques Arnold, Jacques Arnold, poet, scholar and critic
- Jacques Bergier, Jacques BergierJacques BergierJacques Bergier , was a chemical engineer, member of the French-resistance, spy, journalist and writer...
, scientist, writer and science-fiction connoisseur - Elie-Georges Berreby, novelist, playwright, sculptor