Jean Carrière was a French writer.

Life

Originally from Cape Corsine by his mother, Andree Paoli, he was secretary to Jean Giono

Jean Giono

Jean Giono was a French author who wrote works of fiction set in the Provence region of France.-First period:...

 (on whom he wrote an essay) in Manosque

Manosque

Manosque is the largest town and commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. However, it is not the préfecture of the département, which resides in the smaller town of Digne-les-Bains...

, music critic in Paris, literary columnist at the ORTF.
He began his career of writer with his novel Retour à Uzès in 1967, (Académie française

Académie française

L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

 prize). He has published twenty books, mainly novels.

Winner of the Prix Goncourt

Prix Goncourt

The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...

 in 1972 for L'Épervier de Maheux, published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert

Jean-Jacques Pauvert

Jean-Jacques Pauvert is a French publisher, notable for publishing the work of the Marquis de Sade in the early 1950s and as the first publisher of the Story of O and the first edition of Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylone .-External links:...

, success (2 million copies, translated into 14 languages).
His father was killed, crushed by a drunk driver, and he plunged into a depression, after a divorce.

He was passionate about music (his father was a conductor and his maternal grandfather, Toussaint Paoli, had a violin shop in Nîmes) and film (he met the actress Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...

 to whom he dedicated a book); he prepared a new novel and a book on Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

.

After the huge success of his work, Épervier, he stayed away from the literary salons of Paris, and the media which had classified him a regionalist writer.

After a long stay in his cottage in Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu

Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu

Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...

 near Mont Aigoual

Mont Aigoual

Mont Aigoual is the highest point of the Gard département, France. It is part of the Massif Central, and it is located within the Cévennes National Park....

, he lived for twenty years in a house at the foot of the vineyards, Domessargues

Domessargues

Domessargues is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:...

, where his funeral took place on 11 May 2005.

Legacy

Here is what is written by Jean François Carrière Veillerette and Fabrice Nicolino, in their book "Pesticides, révélations sur un scandale français" (Fayard, 2007 – p. 336) :

There are somewhere between Cévennes et Grand Causses, in a valley away from the world, a man born in 1926. His name is Jean. He continues, when we write these lines, to keep its small flock of sheep. As before, as ever since the Neolithic. Jean is a wonderful man who said no. In the 1960s, when all his neighbors equipped themselves, when they expanded their herds and their facilities, Jean said no. He was mocked, he was mocked, he was considered a laggard, or worse. He was right. One of the coauthors of this book, which has known him for years, still hears the cry of this man defeated but still standing, commenting on the fate of agriculture in France: "They destroyed everything." Jean was right: "they" were all destroyed. But life grows still under the ruins, forever and ever. Jean was right, Jean is a quiet hero who never makes the news. But Jean finally wrong: there will be a sequel. Long live Jean Carrière!

Works

• Retour à Uzès, La Jeune Parque, 1967. reprint 1973
• L'Épervier de Maheux, La Presse, 1972, ISBN 9780777700327
• La Caverne des pestiférés, Paris, Pauvert, 1978–1979, 2 vol. ISBN 9782720201288
• Le Nez dans l'herbe, Paris, La Table ronde, 1981.
• Jean Giono, Paris, La Manufacture, 1985. reprint 1991, ISBN 9782737702822
• Les Années sauvages, Paris, Laffont/Pauvert, 1986, ISBN 9782221049914
• Julien Gracq, Paris, La Manufacture, 1986.
• Le Prix d'un Goncourt, Paris, Laffont/Pauvert, 1987 (published as "Les Cendres de la gloire" aux Editions France Loisirs)
• L'Indifférence des étoiles, Paris, Laffont/Pauvert, 1994. reprint Pocket, 1996, ISBN 9782266065573
• Sigourney Weaver, portrait and accomplished itinerary, Paris, La Martinière, 1994.
• Achigan, Paris, Laffont, 1995. reprint Pocket, 1998, ISBN 9782266073134
• L'Empire des songes, Paris, Laffont, 1997, ISBN 9782221077528
• Un jardin pour l'éternel, Paris, Laffont, 1999. ISBN 9782221085400
• Le Fer dans la plaie, Paris, Laffont, 2000. ISBN 9782221085417
• Feuilles d'or sur un torrent, Paris, Laffont, 2001. ISBN 9782846940108
• Passions futiles, Paris, La Martinière, 2004. ISBN 9782846751421