French Literature Reviews - 2026
Amaury Nauroy, Rondes de nuit
Writers: Biography, Letters and Memoirs
Rondes de nuit
Amaury Nauroy
Publication date: 11/09/2017
Publisher: Le Bruit du temps
ISBN: 978-2-35873-117-1
EAN: 9782358731171
Number of pages: 282 p.
"Whenever I try to sum up for myself (even more than for others) what I write for, I return to that emotion of January 26, to that first meeting with Philippe; to the few words he spoke then, which led me to seek the most accurate way of capturing the existence—truly the heartbeat—of a tribe of poets and artists. I am convinced that through them I must examine the emotional micro-history of seasons and days: every true emotion is a source of revelation.
And so, I tackle this task scrupulously—to rescue from the daily lives of these men a few trifles that might seem negligible to them, yet in the hope that alongside their works, and precisely because they moved me, they may shed light, however partially, on the poetic mindset of an era." Amaury Nauroy
*
At first glance, this highly unusual book might seem like a simple gallery of portraits of writers and artists. Or perhaps, for a good portion of its pages, a brief history of post-war French-Swiss literature, in which the author—following extensive on-site research—reconstructs the figure of its most prestigious publisher, Henri-Louis Mermod, before recounting his own encounters with the writers the latter published (Gustave Roud, Philippe Jaccottet) or who emerged in his wake (the novelist Jacques Chessex, the poet Anne Perrier). But to think that would be to miss the point, focusing solely on the list of names which, alongside the painter Garache or the poet Pierre Oster, ultimately transcends the geographical limits of a single country. The introductory text makes it quite clear: this is actually a sort of *Bildungsroman*, or rather, all proportions observed of course, much like *In Search of Lost Time*, the chronicle of a vocation. Paradoxically, even though Amaury Nauroy goes against the grain of *Against Sainte-Beuve* and, far from restricting himself to the works alone, seems primarily interested in the everyday lives of the artists he approaches—even their most anecdotal aspects—he inevitably evokes Proust through his ability to bring an entire small society to life before our eyes, with the vividness of a Saint-Simon (another acknowledged model) and without a trace of complacency. And if he endeavors to describe them in a brisk, whimsical prose, 'wandering and unpredictable'—closer to Charles-Albert Cingria (who makes only a passing appearance in these pages) than to the literary models he circles—it is because he is less in search of a writing style than a life lesson. He does not analyze works of art, but rather seeks to understand the experiences and vital necessities from which they spring, and with what endurance they strive to maintain joy and enthusiasm in spite of everything that conspires to dispossess us of ourselves. Without neglecting the anecdote, the narrator also succeeds in sharing moments of epiphany, such as the sudden presence of the mountains sensed at the Lausanne railway station: 'something invisible in the air seemed to push upwards against the sky from below; a distant yet forceful pressure of those rocks upon the surrounding emptiness struck me full force.'
For a long time, the narrator of *Rondes de nuit* saw the figures in Rembrandt's painting, from which he borrows his title, as 'a mysterious round of poets,' identifying himself as the child astonished to be there, 'at a loss for words' at the center of the composition. Later in the book, his understanding of the painting's meaning deepens, coming to see it as 'the connivance of the living and the dead, without which all life becomes unbreathable.' The two sides of his existence converge, allowing the portrait of his peasant grandfather to take its place in the book alongside those of his chosen family.
This compelling volume by Amaury Nauroy navigates the delicate territory between memoir, literary portraiture, and intellectual chronicle. Rooted in post-war French and Swiss cultural landscapes, the book engages with the tradition of intimate biographical writing while subverting traditional critical distances. By focusing on the everyday gestures, conversations, and living environments of figures associated with publisher Henri-Louis Mermod, the author constructs an affectionate yet rigorous collective portrait that bridges the gap between lived experience and artistic creation.
Readers interested in twentieth-century poetry, the sociology of literature, and the genesis of artistic vocations will find this work an illuminating companion. It speaks directly to those who ponder how personal encounters shape a lifetime of aesthetic devotion. While invoking illustrious models like Marcel Proust and the memoirists of the French tradition, Nauroy offers a distinctively wandering, attentive prose style suited to anyone curious about the human foundations of poetic creation and the enduring bonds uniting writers and artists.