Jean-Paul Dubois

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Jean-Paul Dubois (born February 20, 1950 in Toulouse ) is a French writer and former journalist .

life and work

Jean-Paul Dubois studied sociology . Strongly influenced by the events in May 1968 , the passionate do-it-yourselfer began his professional life on construction sites or as a “furniture photographer”. This was followed by 25 years of activity as a journalist, as he said he was unable to cope with a regular eight-hour working day and was a night owl. Dubois got a job as a sports journalist for the French daily Sud Ouest by chance . After working as a journalist in the field of justice and film for the newspaper Le Matin de Paris , Dubois switched to the French news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur in 1984 as a reporter . As an observer of America, he traveled the country and reported on it. He processed his experiences in the essay volumes L'Amérique m'inquiète (1996, German about "America worries me") and Jusque-là tout allait bien en Amérique (2002, German about "Until then everything went well in America" ).

In parallel to his work as a journalist, Dubois began writing novels. In 1984 he published his first novel, Compte rendu analytique d'un sentiment désordonné ( Eng . About "Summary record of a disordered feeling"), but it went unnoticed by literary criticism. With his second novel Éloge du gaucher dans un monde manchot ( Eng . About "Praise the left-hander in a one-armed world") he drew the attention of Bernard Pivot , who invited him to his weekly literary round Apostrophes . In 2004 Dubois received the prestigious Prix ​​Femina for his novel Une vie française (German: The Years of Paul Blick or A French Life ) . After this success he finished his work as a journalist.

Dubois' greatest success to date was winning the Prix ​​Goncourt in 2019 for Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon (English: each of us lives in the world in his own way ). The tragicomic novel focuses on the pastor's son Paul Hansen from Toulouse, who takes stock of his life so far from a prison cell in Montreal . In the final of the Prix Goncourt, Dubois prevailed 6: 4 against the fellow-favorite Belgian author Amélie Nothomb (Soif) . A German translation was published by dtv in 2020 .

Dubois published more than 20 novels by 2019. He now writes a novel every three or four years, according to his own account, always in March of each year within 15-hour working days. He chose the month because it has 31 days and is very rainy. Characteristic is the frequent use of the figure names Paul and Anna as well as the sad tone of voice, paired with melancholic humor or a combination of burlesque and melancholy. Dubois claims to have been shaped by a heart disease in his father at the age of eight ("I live in worry and will die in worry, so I write about it"). The former militant leftist , who stuttered until he was 15, is heavily influenced by American literature, including Philip Roth and John Updike . Dubois is also considered an admirer of Updike's literature. He reports that he hardly invents anything in his novels. For the main character in Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon , for example, he was inspired by a Canadian caretaker who had been friends for twenty years and who was employed in his mother-in-law's retirement home. Dubois' second wife was the godfather of Paul's wife. He draws inspiration from his experiences during his time as a journalist with the Nouvel Observateur , during which he “only met strange people” (“I have very little imagination, I always have to stick to people I love”).

Several of his works have been adapted for film, television and theater.

Jean-Paul Dubois lives in seclusion in the house where he was born in Toulouse. He is married for the second time and has two children. He has a preference for Scandinavia and describes Canada as his "second home".

Works

  • Compte rendu analytique d'un sentiment désordonné , Fleuve noir 1984.
  • Éloge du gaucher dans un monde manchot , Robert Laffont 1987.
  • Tous les matins je me lève , Robert Laffont 1988.
  • Maria est morte , Robert Laffont 1989.
  • Les poissons me regardent , Robert Laffont 1990.
  • Vous aurez de mes nouvelles , Robert Laffont 1991.
  • Parfois je ris tout seul , Robert Laffont 1992.
  • Une année sous silence , Robert Laffont 1992.
  • Prends soin de moi , Robert Laffont 1993.
  • La vie me fait peur , Seuil 1994.
  • Kennedy et moi , Seuil 1996.
  • L'Amérique m'inquiète , L'Olivier, 1996.
  • Je pense à autre chose , L'Olivier 1997.
  • Si ce livre pouvait me rapprocher de toi , L'Olivier 1999.
  • Jusque-là tout allait bien en Amérique , L'Olivier, 2002.
  • Une vie française , L'Olivier 2004.
  • Vous plaisantez, Monsieur Tanner , L'Olivier 2006.
    • Today it won't work! My year with craftsmen , German by Barbara Reitz and Thomas Wollermann; Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verl. Reinbek near Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-499-62569-5 .
  • Hommes entre eux , L'Olivier 2007.
  • Les accommodements raisonnables , L'Olivier 2008.
  • Le cas Sneijder , L'Olivier 2011.
  • La succession , L'Olivier 2016.
  • Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon , L'Olivier 2019.
    • Each of us inhabits the world in his own way , by Nathalie Mälzer and Uta Rüenauver; Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag München 2020, ISBN 978-3-423-28240-6 .

Awards

  • 1991: Grand Prix de l'humour noir for Vous aurez de mes nouvelles
  • 1996: Prix France Télévisions for Kennedy et moi
  • 2004: Prix ​​Femina for Une vie française
  • 2004: Prix du roman Fnac for Une vie française
  • 2012: Prix Alexandre-Vialatte for Le Cas Sneijder
  • 2019: Prix ​​Goncourt for Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon

Adaptations

Movie

theatre

  • 2008: Vous plaisantez, monsieur Tanner - Direction and screenplay: David Teysseyre (Studio Capitaine Plouf)
  • 2017: Le cas Sneijder - Director: Didier Bezace ( Théâtre de l'Atelier )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Qui est Jean-Paul Dubois? , dicocitations.lemonde.fr, accessed November 4, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Jean-Paul Dubois, la vie plus importante que les livres . In: nouvelobs.com, November 4, 2019 (accessed November 4, 2019).
  3. ↑ a b On a interviewé Jean-Paul Dubois, l'écrivain qui n'aime pas les interviews . In: L'Obs , November 3, 2019 (accessed via Nexis Uni ).
  4. ↑ a b c Sophie Pujas: Jean-Paul Dubois, Goncourt 2019: "Écrire, c'était mon loto sportif" . In: lepoint.fr, November 4, 2019 (accessed November 4, 2019).
  5. ↑ Profile at editionsdelolivier.fr (accessed on November 4, 2019).
  6. ↑ a b c d e Raphaëlle Leyris: Prix ​​Goncourt 2019: Jean-Paul Dubois vainqueur pour "Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon" . In: lemonde.fr, November 4, 2019 (accessed November 4, 2019).
  7. ^ Jean-Paul Dubois receives the Prix Goncourt . In: spiegel.de, November 4, 2019 (accessed November 4, 2019).
  8. ↑ Jean-Paul Dubois wins Prix Goncourt 2019 . In: boersenblatt.net, November 5, 2019 (accessed November 7, 2019).
  9. ↑ a b c Raphaëlle Leyris: Propriétaire de son temps - Rencontre Jean-Paul Dubois . In: Le Monde , 6 September 2019, Le Monde des Livres, p. 11.
  10. ^ François Aubel: Le prix Goncourt attribué à Jean-Paul Dubois . In: lefigaro.fr, November 4, 2019 (accessed November 4, 2019).
personal data
SURNAME Dubois, Jean-Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French journalist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Toulouse