Renaud Camus
Encyclopedia
Biography
He was born in 1946 in ChamalièresChamalières
Chamalières is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.Chamalières is the third-largest town in the department and lies about from Lyon.-History:...
, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
region of France. He spent some time studying in England and traveling in the United States, particularly New York and California (he taught for a semester in a college in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
). He quickly began to circulate among writers (Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
, Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
, Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
, etc.) and visual artists (the Warhol circle, the New York School
New York School
The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in New York City...
, Gilbert and George
Gilbert and George
Gilbert & George are two artists who work together as a collaborative duo. Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore have become famous for their distinctive, highly formal appearance and manner and their brightly coloured graphic-style photo-based artworks.-Early life:Gilbert Proesch was...
, etc.). He also circulated in gay communities and is an outspoken defender of gay rights, although, as with social issues in general, he keeps his distance from doctrinaire positions. One of his first published works (and the only one (partially) translated in English), with a preface by Barthes, is Tricks (1979; enlarged and revised in 1982 and 1988), a “chronicle” consisting of over-detailed descriptions of homosexual encounters in France and elsewhere. Fragments of other works were published in the 75th issue of Yale French Studies (1988).
Camus is an exceptionally prolific writer. His work could be divided into four categories: straightforward prose (travel writing, traditional-form novels, polemic, and lengthy yearly journals (diary
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
) published from 1989 to the present; “creative” prose: “experimental” novels and a large and ever-growing, largely unpublished web text, Burnt Boats (Vaisseaux brûlés); writings on painting and culture; and personal essays.
He has also formed a political party, "Le Parti de l’In-nocence", continually evolving its platform, a curious blend of traditional leftist/socialist political values and conservative social values. It plays no role in French politics, but Camus seems to take it very seriously, adding position statements to the party’s website on a nearly daily basis.
Although he has a growing base of faithful and fervent readers, he is not read widely. This is partly because of the difficulty of some of his work and partly because of his alienation from the literary establishment, in which he is well known, largely because of his journals. This alienation derives from his no-holds-barred approach in his journals and his adamant insistence on expressing his convictions – political, moral, personal – in his writing (some shun him because they fear being described and/or quoted). In his Diary of 1994 (published in 2000 under the title La campagne de France), Renaud Camus commented on the fact that the membership of a regular panel of literary critics supposed to cover a broad range of literary genres in a programme series ("Panorama") run by the French national radio (France Culture) comprised a majority of persons of Jewish descent who tended to exclusively focus discussions on Jewish authors and community-centered issues. This comment, often misquoted in the French media at that time, caused widespread controversy and drew much criticism from observers like the noted French journalist Jean Daniel
Jean Daniel
Jean Daniel, is an Algerian-born French-Jewish journalist and author. He is the founder and executive editor of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly.Daniel is a Jewish humanist in the venerable tradition of the French Left...
, who described Camus' remarks as anti-Semitic. Ironically, Renaud Camus was warmly supported by several prominent Jewish intellectuals, including French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut
Alain Finkielkraut
Alain Finkielkraut is a French essayist, and son of a Jewish-Polish manufacturer of fine leather goods who had been deported to Auschwitz and survived. He currently teaches at the École polytechnique as professor of the "history of ideas and modernity" in the department of humanities and social...
during the entire controversy, the latter underscoring Renaud Camus’ unflinching support for Israel.
Subsequently, and on several occasions, Renaud Camus was given the opportunity to clarify this comment of 2000, including in the studios of that very radio station : He never objected to any community-oriented programmes to be broadcast by that radio network, let alone any programme giving prime of place to the literary production of any Jewish community or being exclusively dedicated to Jewish culture ; his comment was meant to draw the attention of his readers to a literary programme run by a Governmental radio network which had narrowed its original scope to one almost exclusively dedicated to the literary production of one community, under the biased influence of some members of the panel in question. During the past few years, Renaud Camus has been often invited as guest by this radio station in similar programmes to discuss literary and art topics.
Eclogues
- I. Passage, Flammarion (1975)
- II. Échange (signed Denis Duparc), Flammarion (1976)
- III. Travers
- 1. Travers (signed Renaud Camus and Tony Duparc), Hachette (1978)
- 2. Été (Travers II) (signed Jean-Renaud Camus and Denis Duvert), Hachette (1982)
- 3. L'amour l'automne (Travers III) (signed J.R.G. Le Camus and Antoine du Parc), P.O.L. (2007)
Elegies
- Élégies pour quelques-uns, P.O.L. (1988)
- L'Élégie de Chamalières, Sables (1989) and P.O.L. (1991)
- L'Élégie de Budapest in Le voyage à l'est, Balland and La Maison des écrivains (1990)
- Le Bord des larmes, P.O.L. (1990)
- Le Lac de Caresse, P.O.L. (1991)
- Vie du chien Horla, P.O.L. (2003)
Eulogies
- Éloge moral du paraître, Sables (1995) and Éloge du paraître, P.O.L. (2000)
- Syntaxe ou l'autre dans la langue, followed by Éloge de la honte and Voix basse ou l'autre dans la voix, P.O.L. (2004)
Chronicles
- Journal d'un voyage en France, Hachette (1981)
- Tricks: 25 encounters, Saint Martin's Press (1981) and Serpent's Tail (1995) [Tricks, Mazarine (1978) and P.O.L. (1988)]
- Incomparable, with Farid Tali, P.O.L. (1999)
- Corbeaux, Impressions Nouvelles (2000)
Diaries
- Journal de « Travers » (1976–1977), two volumes, Fayard (2007)
- Journal romain (1985–1986), P.O.L. (1987)
- Vigiles : journal 1987, P.O.L. (1990)
- Aguets : journal 1988, P.O.L. (1990)
- Fendre l'air : journal 1989, P.O.L. (1991)
- L'Esprit des terrasses : journal 1990, P.O.L. (1994)
- La Guerre de Transylvanie : journal 1991, P.O.L. (1996)
- Le Château de Seix : journal 1992, P.O.L. (1997)
- Graal-Plieux : journal 1993, P.O.L. (1998)
- La Campagne de France. Journal 1994, Fayard (first edition: April 2000 ; revised edition: June 2000)
- La Salle des pierres : journal 1995, Fayard (2000)
- Les nuits de l'âme : journal 1996, Fayard (2000)
- Derniers jours : journal 1997, Fayard (2002)
- Hommage au carré : journal 1998, Fayard (2002)
- Retour à Canossa : journal 1999, Fayard (2002)
- K.310 : journal 2000, P.O.L. (2003)
- Sommeil de personne : journal 2001, Fayard (2004)
- Outrepas : journal 2002, Fayard (2005)
- Rannoch Moor : journal 2003, Fayard (2006)
- Journal de « Travers », two volumes, Fayard (2007)
- Corée l'absente : journal 2004, Fayard (2007)
- Le royaume de Sobrarbe. Journal 2005, Fayard (2008)
- L'isolation. Journal 2006, Fayard (2009)
- Une chance pour le temps. Journal 2007, Fayard (2009)
- Au nom de Vancouver. Journal 2008, Fayard (2010)
- Kråkmo. Journal 2009, Fayard (2010)
- Parti pris. Journal 2010, Fayard (2011)
Novels
- Roman roi, P.O.L. (1983)
- Roman furieux (Roman roi II), P.O.L. (1987)
- Voyageur en automne, P.O.L. (1992)
- Le Chasseur de lumières, P.O.L. (1993)
- L'épuisant désir de ces choses, P.O.L. (1995)
- L'Inauguration de la salle des Vents, Fayard (2003)
- Loin, P.O.L. (2009)
Directories
- Etc. (abécédaire), P.O.L. (1998)
- Répertoire des délicatesses du français contemporain, P.O.L. (2000) and Seuil (2009)
Miscellaneous
- I. Buena Vista Park, Hachette (1980)
- II. Notes achriennes, P.O.L. (1982)
- III. Chroniques achriennes, P.O.L. (1984)
- IV. Notes sur les manières du temps, P.O.L. (1985)
- V. Esthétique de la solitude, P.O.L. (1990)
- VI. Du sens, P.O.L. (2002)
Topography
- Sept sites mineurs pour des promenades d'arrière saison en Lomagne, Sables (1994) and Onze sites mineurs pour des promenades d'arrière saison en Lomagne, P.O.L. (1997)
- Le Département de la Lozère, P.O.L. (1996)
- Le Département du Gers, P.O.L. (1997)
- Le Département de l'Hérault, P.O.L. (1999)
- Demeures de l'esprit. Grande-Bretagne I, Fayard (2008)
- Demeures de l'esprit. France I, Sud-Ouest, Fayard (2008)
- Demeures de l'esprit. Grande-Bretagne II, Écosse, Irlande, Fayard (2009)
- Demeures de l'esprit. France II, Nord-Ouest, Fayard (2010)
- Demeures de l'esprit. Danemark Norvège, Fayard (2010)
- Demeures de l'esprit. France III, Nord-Est, Fayard (2010)
- Demeures de l'esprit. Suède, Fayard (2011)
Essays
- Burnt Boats (Vaisseaux brûlés)
- P.A. (petite annonce), P.O.L. (1997)
- Vaisseaux brûlés (petite annonce), online book (2000–...)
- Ne lisez pas ce livre ! (Vaisseaux brûlés 1), P.O.L. (2000)
- Killalusimeno (Vaisseaux brûlés 2), P.O.L. (2001)
- Est-ce que tu me souviens ? Vaisseaux brûlés 2-2-37-1), P.O.L. (2002)
Writings on art
- Discours de Flaran, P.O.L. (1997)
- Roumains en regard, by Jean-Jacques Moles, Jean-Jacques Moles editions (1999): preface
- Nightsound (sur Josef AlbersJosef AlbersJosef Albers was a German-born American artist and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century....
) followed by Six prayers, P.O.L. (2000) - Commande publique, P.O.L. (2007)
Political writings
- Le communisme du XXIe siècle, preceded by La deuxième carrière d'Adolf Hitler, followed by Que va-t-il se passer ? and Pire que le mal, Xenia, (2007)
- La Grande Déculturation, Fayard (2008)
- De l'In-nocence. Abécédaire, David Reinharc (2010)
- Décivilisation, Fayard (forthcoming)
Handbooks
Talks
- L'Étrangèreté (entretiens avec Emmanuel CarrèreEmmanuel CarrèreEmmanuel Carrère is a French author, screenwriter and director. He is the son of Louis Édouard Carrère, often known as Louis Carrère d'Encausse after his wife's pen name, and French historian Hélène Carrère d'Encausse....
et Alain FinkielkrautAlain FinkielkrautAlain Finkielkraut is a French essayist, and son of a Jewish-Polish manufacturer of fine leather goods who had been deported to Auschwitz and survived. He currently teaches at the École polytechnique as professor of the "history of ideas and modernity" in the department of humanities and social...
), followed by La mort d'ailleurs, Tricorne (2003) - La dictature de la petite bourgeoisie (entretiens avec Marc du Saune), Privat (2005)
Photography
- Le Jour ni l'Heure, selfpublished books (2009)