Robert Pinget

Robert Pinget (Geneva, July 19, 1919 – August 25, 1997, Tours) was a major avant-garde French writer, born in Switzerland, who wrote several novels and other prose pieces that drew comparison to Beckett and other major Modernist writers. He was also associated with the nouveau roman movement.

Recognition

In 1962, Germaine Tailleferre of Les Six set eleven of Pinget's poems in a song cycle entitled "Pancarte pour Une Porte D'Entrée" (roughly translated as "Handbill for an Entrance") for medium voice and piano, commissioned by the American Soprano and Arts Patron Alice Swanson Esty.

A translation of one of his best known works, The Inquisitory (1962), was recently republished by the Dalkey Archive Press.

Bibliography

Novels

• Entre Fantoine et Agapa, Jarnac, Ed. Tour de Feu, 1951; Ed. de Minuit 1966 (tr. Between Fantoine and Agapa, 1982)
• Mahu ou le matériau, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1952, Ed. de Minuit, 1956 (tr. Mahu or The Material, 1966, 2005)
• Le Renard et la boussole, Paris, Gallimard, 1953; Ed. de Minuit, 1971
• Graal flibuste, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1956 (tr. Graal Flibuste, 2015)
• Baga, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1958 (tr. Baga, 1984)
• Lettre morte, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1959
• La Manivelle, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1960
• Le Fiston, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1959 (tr. Monsieur Levert)
• L'Inquisitoire, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1962 (tr. The Inquisitory, 1982, 2003)
• Autour de Mortin, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1965
• Quelqu'un, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1965 (tr. Someone, 1984)
• Le Libera, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1968 (tr. The Libera Me Domine, 1978)
• Passacaille, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1969 (tr. Passacaglia, 1978)
• Fable, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1971 (tr. Fable, 1980)
• Cette Voix, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1975 (tr. That Voice, 1982)
• L'Apocryphe, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1980 (tr. The Apocrypha, 1986)
• Monsieur Songe, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1982 (tr. Monsieur Songe, 1988)
• Le Harnais, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1984
• Charrue, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1985
• L'Ennemi, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1987 (tr. The Enemy, 1991)
• Du Nerf, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1990 (tr. Be Brave, 1994)
• Cette Chose, by Robert Pinget and Jean Deyrolle (editor), Paris, (1967), 1990
• Théo ou le temps neuf, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1991 (tr. Theo or The New Era, 1994)
• L'Affaire Ducreux et autres textes, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1995
• Tâches d'encre, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1997 (tr. Traces of Ink, 2000)
• Mahu reparle, Paris, Ed. des Cendres, 2009
• La Fissure, précédée de Malicotte-la-Frontière, Genève, Ed. MetisPresses, 2009
• Jean Loiseau, in Histoires littéraires n° 40, 2010

Plays

• Clope au dossier, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1961
• Ici ou ailleurs, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1961
• Architruc, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1961
• L'Hypothèse, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1961
• Identité, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1971
• Abel et Bela, Ed. de Minuit, 1971, (Acte Sud, coll. "Répliques", 1992) (tr. Abel and Bela, 1987)
• Paralchimie, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1973
• Nuit, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1973
• Un Testament bizarre, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1986 (tr. A Bizarre Will, 1989)

References

• Jean-Louis de Rambures, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with R. Pinget, in French)

Criticism in English

• Robert Pinget: The Novel as Quest, by Robert Henkels, 1977

External links

• Publications by and about Robert Pinget in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library
• The official website of Robert Pinget
• Obituary in English at the Wayback Machine (archived January 19, 2000)
• Biography, in French
• A comprehensive web site in French