“We are losing the Godfather of letters”, reacts the writer Frédéric Beigbeder

“It’s a disaster for contemporary literature”reacts on franceinfo Frédéric Beigbeder, writer and literary critic to the announcement of the death of Philippe Sollers at the age of 86, Saturday May 6. “We’re losing the Godfather of Letters somehow”he added.

Philippe Sollers has published his first novel A curious loneliness in 1958 at the age of 22. “He was immediately hailed from his first novel by Aragon and Mauriacpoints out Frédéric Beigbeder. He was an extremely inventive and experimental author. He was crazy about literature all his life, and not only as a novelist, but also as a very great literary critic and publisher., he adds. As collection director at Gallimard, Philippe Sollers also published in 1999 News under ecstasy by Frederic Beigbdeder.

One of the “most happiness-oriented” authors

In 1961, his second novel The park was awarded the Prix Médicis. But he was still writing books today “among the most beautiful and above all the most oriented towards happiness”believes Frédéric Beigbeder. “It’s something quite rare. We are now in a period where everyone is apocalyptic and very pessimistic.” Philippe Sollers has “always defended happiness, the pleasure of writing, of simply living. This is why his departure is very touching.”

“He’s a resistant. He fights for the French language. He fights for a certain hedonism in all areas”says Frédéric Beigbeder, who recommends reading The war of taste by Philippe Sollers: “It’s a summary of what his life has been like. He’s someone who fought for taste all his life.”