The formula is hackneyed, but appropriate: with the disappearance of Bernard Pivot, Quebec literature loses an influential friend who valued our language and the freedom of our writers.
One of Bernard Pivot’s great qualities was to be interested in the writer’s work, not in his experiences or personal anecdotes, says actor and novelist Robert Lalonde, who is one of the Quebecers hosted on the show. Culture broth in 1999.
“He told me straight away: we are going to talk about your books and what you bring to the French language through your way of working,” reports the author of The Ogre of Grand Remous And The little bald eagle. “I always found it admirable to do that with all the writers he received from all over the world. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Robert Lalonde
The journalist and author Claudia Larochelle, who dedicated a special edition of her show Read to the host ofApostrophes and of Culture broth in 2013, agrees. “He loved Quebec writers, their audacity, he loved our language,” she explains, “and had great respect for our French and Quebec expressions. »
Bernard Pivot was the antithesis of Thierry Ardisson who made fun of Nelly Arcan’s accent live on television. “It wasn’t Ardisson, no. There was not this contempt or this colonialist spirit,” continues the journalist, who instead describes Pivot as a pleasant, “extremely sensitive and humane” man, an “intellectual of great rigor” without being hermetic.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Claudia Larochelle
Bernard Pivot, a notable figure in French television, a cultural reference in the French-speaking world, gets his open-mindedness from his origins, believes Pascal Assathiany, who often worked with him while he was managing Dimedia, a giant in the distribution of delivers to Quebec.
“He came from Lyon,” he recalls. He was not a pedantic, intellectual Parisian. He had this spontaneity, this simplicity in his relationship with everyone. He knew a lot, but was always curious to learn more. He always made others feel important by asking them questions. He was surprised, he dug…”
Focused on literature
Bernard Pivot occupied a unique position in the world of French-speaking letters, if not the entire world, according to Robert Lalonde, by piloting a television show “fundamentally centered on literature”. He opened the trayApostrophes to everyone from Solzhenitsyn to Marguerite Duras, including Bukowski, Kundera and Gaston Miron.
In 2018, in an interview at The Pressthe French host also recalled his affection for the author of The scrapped man, a rare poet not to be “afraid of television”. “He stood up and said a poem from memory about his pride in being Quebecois,” he said, speaking of Miron. It had a big impact in France, especially seeing him among other poets with his buttocks clenched. »
Denise Bombardier’s passage where she confronted Gabriel Matzneff about his taste for young girls and denounced the complacency of the French literary world towards him is also among the notable passages by Quebec authors in Pivot. It was in 1990, long before #metoo, long before Vanessa Springora’s denunciation in her novel The consent.
An invitation to a Bernard Pivot show carried weight. We had to make a success of our passage, summarizes Robert Lalonde, evoking the agitation that reigned behind the scenes of the show. “He was not pedantic, but he knew the influence he had,” adds Pascal Assathiany.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Portrait of the boss of the Boréal publishing house, Pascal ASSATHIANY, who is leaving his position as CEO after 33 years, and almost 40 years at Boréal.
He remembers that the facilitator had assured him that The little girl who loved matches too much, by Gaétan Soucy, was available everywhere in France on the eve of receiving the late Quebec writer on his set. “I really like this book. I will recommend it and there will be a lot of demand. I would be very angry with you if the book is not present everywhere,” Bernard Pivot told him.
Its impact in Quebec was of course less, its shows not being broadcast on popular channels. However, his influence was still felt here, says Pascal Assathiany, since he was followed by people in the community, in particular the influencers who are the booksellers and the journalists who devoted themselves to literature.
The famous French reader and interviewer died Monday at the age of 89. He was honorary president of the Quebec Book Fair in 2015. He was made a knight of the National Order of Quebec in recognition of his contribution to the influence of Quebec writers in France and is also an officer of the Order of Canada .