Publishers’ memoirs (20th and 21st centuries) Cover Image

Mémoires d’éditeurs (XXe – XXIe siècles)
Publishers’ memoirs (20th and 21st centuries)

Author(s): Daniel Sangsue
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Instytut Filologii Romańskiej & Wydawnictwo Werset
Keywords: memory; memoirs; autobiography; edition; book; writer; literary awards

Summary/Abstract: Based on a corpus of ten works (of the following publishers: Belfond,Bordas, Buchet, Corti, Girodias, Laffont, Nadeau, Nyssen, Pauvert, Verny and Zylberstein), this paper tries to define a small poetics of publishers’ memoirs, a genre which oscillates between an autobiography, a story and a portrait, and which mixes individual and collective memory. The study focuses on different components and topoï of this kind of narratives: a Bildungsroman, themes of passion for books and a book as an object, a foundation story, a description of a publisher’s tasks (choice of manuscripts, supporting authors, running for literary awards, etc.). Presenting a pragmatic view on the production of books, publishers’ memoirs offer a gallery of renewed portraits of different writers, as well as afford an alternative and interesting glance at literature, and in particular at: historical context of its production, material and pecuniary conditions of its creation, author’ and publishers’ strategies, relationships between authors and publishers.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 258-270
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: English, French