David Foenkinos

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David Foenkinos (2011)

David Foenkinos (born October 28, 1974 in Paris ) is a French writer , screenwriter and director .

life and work

Foenkinos studied literature and music at the Sorbonne with a focus on jazz guitar and then worked as a guitar teacher and in the press departments of several Parisian publishing houses.

His early novels (up to and including Greatest Adoptable Fortune ) are characterized by fast-paced and absurd plots and a richly unusual style. The way of philosophizing about love, the dominant theme in Foenkinos' novels, is recognizably inspired by Albert Cohen's The Beauty of the Lord , the book Foenkinos mentions in nearly all of his novels. In romantic indulgence all of a sudden, evil and disillusioning tones are mixed in, in which the human striving for love seems ridiculous.

Since our most beautiful separation , the bizarre and grotesque have increasingly been replaced by a melancholy attitude and a more psychologically well-founded figure drawing. The main male characters are always related in spirit to the Truffaut figure Antoine Doinel : always a little clumsy and indecisive, often lacking words, always sympathetic, and at the same time leading an astonishingly lively sex life.

The game with recurrence is one of the main characteristics of the novels. The loyal reader will observe the repeated appearance of two Poles, Switzerland as a place of longing or the intimate relationship to the German language, especially among the female main characters. The footnotes are also a stylistic element that runs through all novels. In addition to Albert Cohen, Milan Kundera and Woody Allen are often named as role models and influences .

Nathalie kisses , in Foenkinos' own opinion a “modern mixture of Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast ”, is considered to be his greatest commercial success to date. The book sold over a million copies in France and was made into a film by Foenkinos himself (together with his brother Stéphane) with Audrey Tautou and François Damiens in the leading roles.

His novels appear in over forty languages.

Publications

Novels:

The German translations come (with the exception mentioned) by Christian Kolb.

  • Inversion de l'idiotie - De l'influence de deux Polonais. Gallimard 2002
  • Entre les oreilles. Gallimard, 2002
  • The potential erotique de ma femme. Gallimard, 2004 ( The erotic potential of my wife . Translated from Moshe Kahn . CH Beck, Munich 2005 ISBN 3-406-53550-X )
  • En cas de bonheur. Flammarion 2005 ( greatest stroke of luck that can be assumed . CH Beck, Munich 2006 ISBN 3-406-55068-1 )
  • Les cœurs autonomes. Grasset 2006.
  • Qui se souvient de David Foenkinos? Gallimard 2007.
  • Nos separations. Gallimard 2008 ( Our most beautiful separation . CH Beck, Munich 2010 ISBN 978-3-406-59840-1 )
  • La délicatesse. Gallimard 2009 ( Nathalie kisses . CH Beck, Munich 2011 ISBN 978-3-406-62162-8 )
  • Lennon. Plon 2010 ( Lennon . DVA, Munich 2018 ISBN 978-3-421-04799-1 )
  • Les souvenirs. Gallimard 2011 ( Souvenirs . CH Beck, Munich 2012 ISBN 978-3-406-63947-0 )
  • Je vais mieux. Gallimard 2013 ( Fortunately Pauline . CH Beck, Munich 2013 ISBN 978-3-406-65420-6 )
  • La tete de l'emploi. J'ai lu, 2014
  • Charlotte. Gallimard 2014 ( Charlotte . DVA, Munich 2015 ISBN 978-3-421-04708-3 ) (via Charlotte Salomon )
  • Le mystère Henri Pick. Gallimard 2016 ( The secret life of Monsieur Pick.DVA, Munich 2017 ISBN 978-3-421-04760-1 )
  • Vers la beauté. Gallimard 2018 ( The woman in the Musée d'Orsay . Penguin Verlag, Munich 2019 ISBN 978-3-328-60086-2 )
  • Deux sœurs . Gallimard 2019

Films (with Stéphane Foenkinos):

Film adaptations

Plays:

  • Celibataires. Flammarion 2008; World premiere in 2008 at the Parisian Studio des Champs-Élysées (Director: Anouche Setbon, with Catherine Jacob and Christian Charmetant)
  • Le plus beau jour. Flammarion 2016; World premiere in 2016 at the Théâtre Hébertot in Paris (Director: Anne Bourgeois, with Arié Elmaleh, Constance Dollé, Marie-Julie Baup, Davy Sardou)

Stories:

  • Bernard. Ed. du Moteur 2010

Comics (together with Benjamin Reiss):

  • Pourquoi tant d'amour? (2 vol.) Emmanuel Proust, 2004

Children's books (together with Soledad Bravi):

  • Le petit garçon qui disait toujours non. Albin Michel Jeunesse, 2011
  • Le saule pleureur de bonne humeur. Albin Michel Jeunesse, 2012

Awards (selection)

  • Prix ​​François-Mauriac for Inversion de l'idiotie (2001).
  • Scholarship from the Hachette Foundation (2003).
  • Prix ​​Roger-Nimier for The erotic potential of my wife (2004).
  • Prix ​​Jean Giono for Qui se souvient de David Foenkinos? (2007).
  • Prix ​​Conversation, Prix des Dunes, Prix des lecteurs du Télégramme de Brest for Nathalie kisses (2009).
  • 2 nominations (best debut film, best screenplay adaptation) for the French film award César for the film adaptation of Nathalie kisses (2012).
  • Prix ​​Renaudot , Prix ​​Goncourt des lycéens for Charlotte (2014; about Charlotte Salomon )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ girlfriend. Stories of Love , seen on June 12, 2013
  2. ^ Statement by Foenkino on the occasion of a reading in Weimar on September 13, 2013.
  3. ^ Kolb in the translator database of the VdÜ , 2019
personal data
SURNAME Foenkinos, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer, screenwriter and director
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris