Pierre Assouline, journalist, writer, blogger, broadcaster, member of the Académie Goncourt and one of the formidable forces in contemporary French literature is coming to Malta for the National Book Festival next week.
Pierre Assouline was born in Casablanca, Morocco. Among his notable awards are Le Prix Maison de la Presse (2005), Le Prix de la langue française (2007), Le prix Méditerranée (2011) and Le prix littéraire Prince-Pierre-de-Monaco (2011).
You have an enormous body of work including biographies of eminent personalities such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Marcel Dassault, Gaston Gallimard and so on. Some of these books have been translated into English and the Cartier-Bresson one in Chinese. I like to think that biographers can sometimes be messengers between past people and the present. What makes you decide to write the biography of a particular person and not another?
The starting point is my curiosity. A case in point was my curiosity about the destiny of an exceptional man, Marcel Dassault, aeronautical manufacturer, father of the Mirage and the Mystères. Thereafter, I was equally guided only by my curiosity, above all for men who are hardly mentioned in official histories.
At about what age did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
One does not decide this, it is imposed unconsciously. One day one realises that one is a writer without having expressly decided upon it, but not before having already published a certain number of books.
How much planning is required when it comes to structuring a book?
It takes three years. The large part on research, even for a novel. Then six months are spent writing.
Do you have a routine? What tools do you use? Pencil or computer?
No routine. I use a computer, the Mac Book Pro. It is a great joy because it is so practical.
Apart from writing for such prestigious French publications as Lire and Le Nouvel Observateur you also have a very popular blog La République des livres in which you cover so much: literature, poetry, history, philosophy and so on. To keep such a blog up-to-date you must be reading when you are not writing. Can you give us an idea of how you organize a normal day?
I read all the time, everywhere, in all circumstances. I always have a book in my pocket. I use public transport every day and as I have catholic tastes I read everything. When I am not reading I am writing. I am very happy to spend a week in a big library, at the moment in that of Georgetown University in Washington.
Are there any authors, living or dead that you would name as influences in your life?
Proust, Simenon, Joyce, Céline, Thomas Mann. And three poets: Baudelaire, Paul Celan, and Mahmoud Darwich.
Do you have any favourite books?
A la recherche de temps perdu.
Why do you single out Proust's famous A la recherché de temps perdu? What is it in particular that attracts you to this work?
It is the novel which dominates 20th century French literature because of its quality, its originality, its texture, the intelligence of its author and its appeal to the emotions. It is not a vision of the world but a sensation of the world and this is priceless. It is my bedside book.
Some writers set themselves to write a number of words each day. For example Graham Greene set himself the target of 500 to 750 words a day. What about you?
This is typically Anglo-Saxon. French writers do not count words. And anyway I have known few who tie themselves down to writing a precise number of passages. The writing comes when it comes. If it doesn't come then you wait for the following day...
Where do you like writing best? Your hero Proust liked writing in bed for example... and you?
Never in bed and rarely at home. At a table. But I also like writing in a library or a café but preferably abroad.
Does it bother you if you spend a day not writing anything at all?
No, on the contrary.
Do you think that writing is a talent and that if you don't have the talent you can still learn how to write well?
There is talent but it is not innate. It is acquired and perfected. A small gift at first or at least some precise position, this helps.
What is your next project? What have you been working on recently apart from your blog?
I am working on a lovers Dictionary of literature and writers and also a novel which is a modern adaptation of the legend of Golem of Prague (in Jewish folklore).
Have you ever been to Malta before?
No, never.
What kind of island are you expecting to find?
An island which has undergone different influences - for the better.
(On Saturday 15 November at 11am The National Book Council and the Embassy of France invite you to an interview by Prof. Anthony Abela of Pierre Assouline at the Temi Zammit Hall, Mediterranean Conference Centre during the National Book Festival.)