François Bott (26 June 1935 – 22 September 2022)[1] was a French author who after a long career as a journalist and literary critic became a writer of novels, one of which, Une minute d’absence (2001), won the
Académie Française's Prix de la Nouvelle. He continued as a literary critic, writing essays focused on other writers, especially
Roger Vailland.
Bott authored some thirty books, including novels and literary essays, such as La Demoiselle des Lumières and Sur la planète des sentiments, works on writers and exceptional women.[3][6] His Vel'd'Hiv' retells the story of the
Vélodrome d'hiver, from a cycling track to a place of repression and torture during
World War II.[7] Bott was awarded the
Académie Française's Prix de la Nouvelle in 2001 for Une minute d’absence.[8]
Bott's last novel, Nos années éperdues (2015), was praised in the magazine Causeur for its portrayal of life in France in the 1950s, and particularly for the rendering of the correspondence between the two main characters.[9]
A member of the jury of the
Roger Vailland prize,[5] Bott has regularly participated in events on the work of the writer, including a lecture on Roger Vailland et 325.000 francs,[10] public reading of Drôle de jeu [
fr], at
La Table ronde publishing house entitled l'esprit de conquête (Vailland's work: Cortès, le conquérant de l'Eldorado).[10] In particular, he published a reference book on Vailland: Les Saisons de Roger Vailland [
fr].[11]
Bott was a regular contributor to the literary magazine Service littéraire.[12] He died in
Paris at the age of 87 on 22 September 2022.
2008! Gina, Éditions de La Table Ronde, collection La petite Vermillon, 193 pages,
ISBN2710330504
2010: Écrivains en robe de chambre, Éditions de
La Table Ronde, collection La petite Vermillon, 280 pages,
ISBN9782710331575
2010: La Traversée des jours : Souvenirs de la République des Lettres (1958-2008), Éditions du Cherche Midi,[15] 169 pages.
ISBN9782749113678
2014: Le Dernier Tango de Kees Van Dongen, Éditions du Cherche Midi, 144 pages
ISBN9782749130026
Works written in collaboration
Boulevard de l'océan par François de Cornière, preface by François Bott, Édition Le Castor Astral, collection Poche, May 2006[13]
Enquête poésie auprès de 250 revues littéraires, Édition Jean-Michel Place, collection Enquête, par Jean-Michel Place, François Bott, Jacques Lepage, et Michel Carassou, 1979[13]
Le Discours du chameau, suivi de Jenine et autres poèmes par Tahar Ben Jelloun et François Bott, Éditions Gallimard Poche, collection Poésie, March 2007, 543 pages,
ISBN2070342379[13]
Les Séductions de l'existence, François Bott, Dominique Grisoni,
Yves Simon, Roland Jaccard, LGF/Livre de poche, collection Biblio Essais, December 1989[13]
Further reading
François Bott, Un aficionado de la vie, Interviews, Roger Vailland, éditions Subervie, 1970