Pierre Minet
Pierre Minet, born in Reims in 1909, ran away from his family in 1925 to lead a bohemian life in Paris between Montmartre and Montparnasse. He preceded his great friends from Reims, his “gods”, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte and René Daumal. Nicknamed “slender phrère”, he became the fifth “simplist” and collaborated on the first issue of the review Le Grand Jeu in 1928, the year in which the American publisher Edward Titus published a booklet of his poems, Circumcision of the heart, and the NRF his first novel, L'Homme Mithridates. In 1930, Histoire d'Eugène, _published in the Bifur collection of Editions du Carrefour (republished in 1989), was praised by Max Jacob and C.A. Cingria. It was then that Pierre Minet fell seriously ill and, being treated at Berck, began the _ Journal _ which he kept until the end, extracts from which were published in 2003 under the title _ En mal d'Aurore, Journal 1932-1975. Poet and writer, who became a novelist again after the war, he was also a critic in the written press (in Combat avec Camus, La Nef and Paru), an advertising editor with Desnos, as well as a prolific radio producer until his last days.
Editions du Sagittaire published La Porte Noire in 1946, then La Défaite the following year – which Jean Paulhan wanted for the NRF _and which Artaud and Breton celebrated (reissued three times, to an ever-changing readership and translated to this day into Spanish and Italian). His last novel, Un Héros des Abîmes, was released in 1985 by Pierre Belfond, ten years after his death. Very close to Roger-Gilbert Lecomte, he fought tirelessly, including legally, for his correspondence to see the light of day; he published the latter, with a preface that Malraux praised, as well as the foreword to his Complete Works.
Pierre Minet also turned to theater, with a drama, Georges Cadoudal, created in 1960 in the Paris region and repeated at a festival in Brittany in Carnac and on France-Culture, and an adaptation of La Porte Noire, created on France-Culture.
Les Cahiers du Sud, La Nouvelle Revue Française, De Stijl, transition, This Quarter, Orbes, Le Disque Vert, Feuillets Inutiles, La Revue des Deux Mondes, La Nef, Les Cahiers de l'Herne, the Literary Magazine, have notably published his writings over the years. A selection of texts has also been included under the title_The Heralds of the Great Game_and some close ones, while several of his poems appear in anthologies_.
Resources
What is The Great Game? - France Culture, 2000
Proust (2/5): by André Maurois and Pierre Minet
Recorded on 01/21/1948 on the National Channel
"Remember Marcel Proust" by Pierre Minet (from 43'10")
First broadcast on 06/15/1950 on Paris Inter
Here we are in…1919, by the will of the producer, Pierre Minet. A show that acts “as if”, one could say, in imitation of the magic formulas introducing children’s games.
With Céleste Albaret!
Éditions Allia, texts around La Défaite by Pierre Minet
Interview with Georges Minet about La Défaite by Pierre Minet
Works
Circumcision of the heart, Paris, Edward Titus, 1928 (reissue Le Nouveau Commerce, notebook 62/63, Autumn 1985)
Mithridates Man, NRF, 1928
History of Eugène, Editions du Carrefour, 1930 (reissue L’Ether Vague/Patrice Thierry, 1989)
The Black Door, Editions du Sagittaire, 1945
La Défaite, confessions, Editions du Sagittaire, 1947 (new ed.: Brussels, Ed. Jacques Antoine, 1973; Ed. Allia, 1994 [afterword by the author] and 2010 [new expanded ed.])
La derrota (Confesiones), Traduccion y prologo de Julio Monteverde, Pepitas ed. (2018)
La sconfitta, translation Silvia Ricciardi, Neri Pozza ed. (2023)
A hero of the abyss, foreword by Jacques Baron, Ed. Pierre Belfond, 1985
The Heralds of the Great Game and some relatives, preface by Jean Bollery, Paris: La Maison des Amis des Livres, 1997
In search of Dawn, Journal 1932-1975, edition, preface and notes by Patrick Kremer, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue: Le bois d'Orion, 2002
Berck-plaster - Hospital notebook (in preparation for Claire Paulhan editions)
Correspondance : Pierre Minet & Jean Paulhan, 1927-1952
Mention of Pierre Minet in a text about Paulhan constellation :
- Esquisse d'un double portrait de Léon Pierre-Quint et de Jean Paulhan en maîtres de jeu de Bernard Baillaud
Text by Pierre Minet within the Paulhan constellation :
- In Memoriam Roger Gilbert-Lecomte de Pierre Minet
Bibliography of texts published in the NRF
The texts below, published in La Nouvelle Revue Française, are grouped into four main sets: texts by Pierre Minet, notes and columns by the author, texts about the author, and, when available, translations by the author.
Texts by Pierre Minet
- D'un homme et d'une vie, 1964-11-01
Notes by Pierre Minet
These texts by Pierre Minet may include reading notes, mood notes, performance reviews, miscellaneous pieces, or previously unpublished texts. They appeared in NRF sections such as Chronique des romans, L'air du mois, Le temps comme il passe, etc., or in tribute issues.
- André Rolland de Renéville, 1962-11-01, Notes
Chronological distribution of texts published in the NRF (1908-1968)
This chart shows the chronological distribution of texts across the four categories defined above: Texts, Notes, Translations, and Texts about the author.