Robert Solé

Robert Solé at the Le Livre sur la Place book festival in Nancy 2011

Robert Solé (born September 14, 1946 in Cairo ) is a French writer and journalist.

Life

Solé, son of one of Syria originating Christian family, spent his childhood and youth in Egypt . He received his education at French-speaking Egyptian schools, first at the Lycée franco-Egyptien in Heliopolis , then at the Collège de la Sainte Famille in Cairo, a traditional Jesuit- run private school from which he graduated with the French-Egyptian Baccalauréat . The French Baccalauréat was added to a private school in a suburb of Beirut ( Lebanon ), Notre-Dame de Jamhour , also supported by the Jesuit order . At the age of 17 he emigrated to France in 1964 and studied journalism at the École Supérieure de Journalisme in Lille . In 1967 he started working as an editor for the daily newspaper Nord-Eclair in Roubaix and two years later he moved to Le Monde .

Solé has stayed with this newspaper ever since. He initially worked for their "Religion" section, later he was a foreign correspondent in Rome (1974 to 1980) and Washington (1980 to 1983). He then returned to Paris, initially as head of service for the “Society” ( Société ) section, and later as editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of the paper. From 1998 to 2007 he worked as a médiateur for Le Monde , that is to say, as ombudsman , he was responsible for communication between readers and the editorial team as well as for looking after the letters to the editor. Solé made a significant contribution to this function, which was introduced in 1994, not least through a column by his hand that appears every Saturday. From 2007, Solé headed the newspaper's literary supplement, Le Monde des Livres , until his retirement, which he took up on March 3, 2011. From 2006 to 2011 he wrote a short column daily on the last page of Le Monde .

Solé began to publish non-fiction books as early as the 1970s . Topics were the “new Christians” of the 1970s and the “terrorist challenge” in connection with the murder of Aldo Moro . He achieved his breakthrough as a writer with the 1992 novel Le Tarbouche ("The Tarbouche "), a family story from Egypt that stretches from the beginning of the 20th century to the emigration of almost all family members around 1960 and in the milieu of the Greek Catholic community Kairos plays, the milieu that Solé was familiar with from his childhood and youth. He received the Prix Méditerranée for this. The novel has been reprinted several times and translated into German, English and Polish.

So Solé had found the topic for his fiction production. A number of other novels took up the milieu and partly also the protagonists of the Tarbouche , i.e. the members of the family clan around the businessman and Tarbouch manufacturer Georges Batrakani. In addition, Solé wrote a large number of other non-fiction books, which also revolved around the subject of Egypt, including the Stone of Rosetta , Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian adventure and Egypt in the 20th century.

Works

Non-fiction

• Les nouveaux Chrétiens ("The New Christians"). Paris, Seuil. 1975
• Le défi terroriste. Leçons italiennes à l'usage de l'Europe ("The Terrorist Challenge. Italian Lessons for Use in Europe"). Paris, Seuil. 1979. ISBN 2-02-005015-3
• L'Égypte, passion française ("Egypt, French Passion"). Paris, Seuil. 1997. ISBN 2-02-028144-9
• Les Savants de Bonaparte ("The Scholars of Bonaparte"). Paris, Seuil. 1998. ISBN 2-02-033845-9
• La Pierre de Rosette ("The Stone of Rosette"). With Dominique Valbelle. Paris, Seuil. 1999. ISBN 2-02-037130-8
• Dictionnaire amoureux de l'Égypte ("Amorous Dictionary of Egypt"). Paris, Plon. 2001. ISBN 2-259-19189-4
• Voyages en Égypte ("Travels in Egypt"). With Marc Walter and Sabine arqué. Paris, Chêne. 2003. ISBN 2-84277-451-5 . 2003. German translation under the title: Legendary Journeys in Egypt . Munich, Frederking & Thaler. 2004. ISBN 3-89405-628-2
• Le grand voyage de l'obélisque ("The great journey of the obelisk"). Paris, Seuil. 2004. ISBN 2-02-039279-8
• Bonaparte à la conquête de l'Égypte ("Bonaparte during the conquest of Egypt"). Paris, Seuil. 2004. ISBN 3-89405-628-2
• Fous d'Égypte. Entretiens avec Florence Quentin ("Crazy about Egypt. Conversations with Florence Quentin "). With Jean-Pierre Corteggiani and Jean-Yves Empereur. Paris, Bayard. 2005. ISBN 2-227-47458-0
• L'Égypte d'hier en couleurs (“Yesterday's Egypt in color”). With Max Karkégi. Paris, Chêne. 2008. ISBN 978-2-84277-912-2

Novels

• Le Tarbouche ("The Tarbusch"). Paris, Seuil. 1992. ISBN 2-02-013533-7 . German translation under the title: The merchant of Cairo . Munich, Droemer-Knaur. 1993. ISBN 3-426-63005-2
• Le Sémaphore d'Alexandrie ("The Semaphore of Alexandria"). Paris, Seuil. 1994. ISBN 2-02-019360-4 . German translation under the title: The streets of Alexandria. Munich, Droemer-Knaur. 1996. ISBN 3-426-63066-4
• La Mamelouka. Paris, Seuil. 1996. ISBN 2-02-023901-9 . German translation under the title: Mamelouka . Munich, Droemer-Knaur. 1998. ISBN 3-426-63091-5
• Mazag. Paris, Seuil. 2000. ISBN 2-02-039280-1
• Une soirée au Caire (“An evening in Cairo”). Paris, Seuil. 2010. ISBN 978-2-02-103001-3
• La vie éternelle de Ramsès II ("The Eternal Life of Ramses II "). Paris, Seuil. 2011. ISBN 978-2-02-096338-1

Web links

• Literature by and about Robert Solé in the catalog of the German National Library
• Homepage of Robert Solé (French)
• Eric Frezel: Robert Solé est nommé directeur du Monde des Livres on the La République des Lettres website , September 6, 2007 (French)
• Marc Zitzmann: “At the risk of arousing displeasure” . A visit to the ombudsman of the newspaper “Le Monde”. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from December 9, 2005