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Philippe Sollers

Biography

Philippe Sollers was born Philippe Joyaux in Talence, 1936. His family ran the local iron works. He went to Paris to complete his secondary education. He studied at the École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales and then enrolled at the Sorbonne. He abandoned his studies to become a writer. He published his first story in a magazine but then had considerable success with his first novel Une curieuse solitude (A Strange Solitude) . He was much praised by critics. He co-founded Tel Quel, a literary magazine. He feigned schizophrenia so he did not have to serve in Algeria and was hospitalised for three months. Hs work developed from a more traditional form to one where narrative was not important, wiyj influences from Chinese culture and a more abstract style. His later writing will show the influence of James Joyce, Eza Pound and automatic writing. In politics he becomes a Maoist. His influences will continue to develop. He will become an editor at Gallimard, promoting new writers but famously rejecting Amélie Nothomb‘s first novel. He is married to Julia Kristeva, the Bulgarian-born French writer and academic. He has published numerous novels, essays, biographies and articles, a few of which have been translated into English.

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Philippe Sollers
Two prominent French writers who have been married for 30 years, Philippe Sollers and Julia Kristeva, discuss their attitude to infidelity
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Interview
His website (in French)
His Twitter page (in French)
His Facebook page (in French)
Philippe Sollers (in French)
Philippe Sollers (in French)
Interview (in French)

Bibliography

1958 Une curieuse solitude (A Strange Solitude) (novel)
1961 Le Parc (The Park) (novel)
1963 Francis Ponge (literature)
1963 L’Intermédiaire (essay)
1963 Entretiens avec Francis Ponge (conversations)
1965 Drame (Event) (novel)
1966
1968 Logiques (essay)
1968 L’Écriture et l’expérience des limites (Writing and the Experience of Limits) (essay)
1972 Lois (novel)
1973 H (novel)
1974 Sur le matérialisme (essay)
1976 Délivrance (conversations)
1977 Au-delà du dialogue (conversations)
1981 Vision à New York (conversations)
1981 Paradis (novel)
1983 Femmes (Women) (novel)
1984 Alain Kirili (art)
1984 Portrait du joueur (novel)
1985 Théorie des exceptions (essay)
1986 Paradis 2 (novel)
1986 Louis Cane (art)
1986 Les Surprises de Fragonard (art)
1987 Le Cœur absolu (novel)
1987 Rodin : dessins érotiques (art)
1987 Beaubourg (Art)
1988 Les Folies françaises(novel)
1988 De Kooning, vite (art)
1989 Le Lys d’or (novel)
1990 Sade contre l’Être suprême and de Sade dans le temps
1991 Improvisations (essay)
1991 La Fête à Venise (Watteau in Venice) (novel)
1992 Le Rire de Rome (conversations)
1992 Watteau et les femmes (art)
1993 Le Secret (novel)
1994 La Guerre du goût (articles)
1995 Le Paradis de Cézanne (art)
1995 Le Cavalier du Louvre (biography)
1996 Picasso, le héros (art)
1996 Les Passions de Francis Bacon (art)
1996 Nombres (novel)
1997 Studio (novel)
1998 Casanova l’admirable (Casanova the Irresistible) (biography)
1998 La Littérature contre Jean-Marie Le Pen. À propos du roman de Mathieu Lindon : « Le Procès de Jean-Marie Le Pen » (essay)
1999 L’Année du tigre, journal de l’année (journal)
2000 La Divine Comédie (conversations)
2000 Passion fixe (novel)
2001Mystérieux Mozart (Mysterious Mozart) (biography)
2001 Un amour américain (novel)
2001 Éloge de l’Infini (articles)
2002 L’Étoile des amants (novel)
2003 Voir écrire (conversations)
2003 Illuminations à travers les textes sacrés (essay)
2004 Dictionnaire amoureux de Venise (Venice : An Illustrated Miscellany) (travel)
2004 Le Saint-Âne (essay)
2005 Une vie divine (novel)
2005 Poker and Ligne de risque
2006 Logique de la fiction (literature)
2006 L’Évangile de Nietzsche (conversations)
2006 Fleurs (essay)
2007 Guerres secrètes (essay)
2007 Un vrai roman (memoirs)
2008 Willy Ronis. Nues (art)
2009 Les Voyageurs du temps (novel)
2009 Grand Beau Temps (aphorisms)
2010 Vers le Paradis, (essay)
2010 Discours parfait (articles)
2011 Trésor d’amour (novel)
2012 Fugues (articles)
2012 L’Éclaircie (novel)
2013 Médium (novel)
2013 Portraits de femmes (essay)
2014 Littérature et Politique (essay)
2014 Medium (novel)
2015 L’École du mystère (novel)
2015 L’Amitié de Roland Barthes (The Friendship of Roland Barthes) (essay)
2015 Du mariage considéré comme un des beaux-arts (conversations)
2016 Contre-attaque (conversations)
2016 Mouvement (novel)
2016 Complots (articles)
2017 Lettres à Dominique Rolin. 1958-1980 (correspondence)
2017 Beauté (novel)
2018 Centre (novel)
2019 Une conversation infinie (conversations)
2019 Le Nouveau (novel)
2020 Désir (novel)