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Jean Portante
Biography
Jean Portante was born in 1950 in Differdange. His parents had recently arrived in Luxembourg from Italy. As a child he spoke French, Italian and Luxembourgish. He was educated in France and took part in the 1968 demonstrations and then became a teacher of French. At the age of thirty-three, he published his first collection of poems and then moved to Paris. He spent a long time in Latin America, where he learned Spanish and became a translator, translating works from Spanish, German, English and Luxembourgish into French. He has continued to work both as a writer and publisher of poetry as well as writing drama and prose fiction. Some of his poetry has been translated into English, but none of his prose fiction.
Other Links
Jean Portante
Jean Portante
His website ( in French)
His website (old version – in French)
Jean Portante (in French)
Jean Portante (in French)
Interview (in French)
Bibliography
1983 Feu et Boue (poetry)
1984 L’Instant des nœuds (poetry)
1985 Méandres (poetry)
1986 Horizon, vertige & Italie intercalaire (poetry)
1987 Projets pour un naufrage prémédité [Projects for a Premeditated Shipwreck] (story)
1990 Un deux cha cha cha (novel)
1991 Ex-odes (poetry)
1993 Mrs Haroy ou la Mémoire de la baleine : chronique d’une immigration (novel)
1994 Ouvert fermé (poetry)
1996 Le Mariage de Pythagore (drama)
1996 Effaçonner (poetry)
1998 Destin destination: une tragédie (drama)
1999 Point : poèmes (Point = Erasing) (poetry)
1999 Point d’appui (poetry)
1999 Allen Ginsberg. L’autre Amérique (literature)
1999 La mémoire de la baleine (novel)
2001 La Pluie comme un œil (poetry)
2002 L’étrange langue (poetry)
2003 Mourir partout sauf à Differdange (novel)
2004 L’Arbre de la disparition (poetry)
2004 Rue du Nord (poetry)
2004 Tous les feux sont éteints (poetry)
2004 L’arbre de la disparition (poetry)
2005 La Cendre des mots : l’origine est passée par là. Poèmes 1989-2005 (poetry)
2007 Le Travail du poumon (poetry)
2007 Je veux dire [suivi de] Un oiseau s’est posé sur tes lèvres. d’Yves Namur (poetry)
2008 En réalité (poetry)
2009 Ailleurs – Épisode I : Charleville-Mézières 2008 : une année en poésie (poetry)
2010 Ce qui advient et ce qui n’advient pas (poetry)
2010 La Réinvention de l’oubli (poetry)
2011 Hexaméron. Dernier jour. [suivi de] Orphée au pays des mortels (drama)
2012 Conceptions (poetry)
2013 Après le tremblement (poetry)
2013 In Reality : Selected Poems (poetry)
2015 L’Architecture des temps instables (novel)
2017 La Tristesse cosmique (poetry)