Dead Man Writing
Came across something today you don’t often see: an obituary written by a dead man–or, more accurately, an obituary whose author (Douglas Johnson: 1925-2005) predeceased his subject (Julien Gracq: 1910-2007) by two years.
Gracq was a contrarian French author who shunned the fame and honours garnered by his work. His best known book is the war novel Un Balcon en Foret [A Balcony in the Forest]. According to the obituary, Gracq had his doubts about the style-cult which marks modern literature in France and…
believed in the importance not so much of style but of form. As his example, he gave the sayings of the countryside. Many of them are about the weather. These sayings are accepted. No one seeks to verify whether they are accurate. It is the form that makes them authentic.
Johnson: Julien Gracq: French novelist who refused the Goncourt The Guardian, Dec 24th, 2007
Image: ‘Death Applications’ by Raphco on Flickr