He is active on all fronts of literature. First and foremost, he is a writer with six novels, poetry, and essays; a translator of Oscar Wilde and James Joyce; and an editor at Grasset. He is also active in radio, where he has produced and hosted programs about literature and, more broadly, artistic creation on France Culture for over ten years. He is also a native of Tarbes, having attended school in the Bigorre capital, from the Voltaire school to the Lycée Théophile Gautier, by way of the Collège Desaix. Before leaving for another capital. We met in a salon on the Rue des Saints-Pères in Paris.
Is your childhood in Tarbes very far away from you?
Far away in a geographical sense, yes, but in a personal and sentimental sense, that's not entirely true. I no longer have any family there. I have a childhood memory of seeing that barrier of mountains, which seemed like an obstacle, something to overcome. But I was also thinking about the number of writers Tarbes has produced. Théophile Gautier was born in Tarbes. Jules Laforgue's family was from Tarbes. Lautréamont too. It meant that this town, which was somewhat isolated, near the mountain barrier and very far from the capital where artistic things happen, was actually not so far away, and that mattered.
Like the character in your novel, you left Tarbes for Paris
Yes, I left after high school. I went to Toulouse for my studies. And then Paris, because France is the way it is now, and I believe it will be for a long time to come: you can only be a writer in Paris. The publishers are there, you meet people there, because that's just how it is. Paris is the artistic capital of France; there's nothing pejorative about it for other cities that have different qualities, but it's remained that way. Most of the great writers are provincials who came to Paris. Paris should thank us because we provincial writers are the lifeblood of Paris.
How does one become a writer three years after a PhD in aviation law?
Law was a field of study that didn't exist in my family, and I wanted to be left alone. I loved literature, but I didn't want to study literature in a way that dictated what I thought about it. I read a lot, I wrote. I followed a path like everyone else, publishing articles in journals. The editor of the journal told me I should write a book. It was published, and I was fortunate enough to be praised by the greatest critics of the time, such as Angelo Rinaldi and Bernard Frank. The first book is easy, even when you don't know anyone. It's what comes after that's difficult.
Being a writer and publisher: Is it about writing and watching yourself write?
I believe that every writer is their own publisher because we spend our time rereading and correcting ourselves. The most difficult thing is knowing how to correct yourself and being able to read yourself as if it weren't you. Being a writer and publisher at the same time also means being part of a long line of writer-publishers, like Cicero, Virginia Woolf, Rémi Gourmand, and André Gide. I think that's what makes certain publishing houses unique because a writer-publisher isn't the same as a publisher who is only a publisher.
No novel for eight years. Is it radio that's keeping you busy?
No, I don't think so. I'm going to publish a new novel in January. You're getting the news because it hasn't been announced yet. And I just stopped doing radio.
I feel like I'm doing nothing
This isn't a paradox, and it's not exceptional at all
explains Charles Dantzig, who moves seamlessly between writing, broadcasting, and editing at Grasset. When you want something, you always have time. That's the case for me. Obviously, I sacrifice a lot of things in my life: no country house, no family, because I chose this to dedicate myself to literature. Above all, you mustn't just daydream. People who daydream do nothing because daydreaming is a substitute. While you're daydreaming, you're not doing anything.