Géographie intérieure : Collection Vingt-six (Littérature Française)

by Pierre Jourde

Dans un abecedaire aussi corrosif que personnel, Pierre Jourde se devoile autant qu'il pense son epoque. Du rock aux enjeux majeurs de l'actualite, de la boxe a ses propres entrailles, l'auteur joue sans demi-mesure le je de l'abecedaire, voguant au fil des lettres comme au hasard de lui-meme: Hammond, Critique, Liberte, Mastroianni, Kid Atlaas, Racisme, Quenouille, Style, Israel, Vialatte, notamment, ponctuent ce voyage inedit a travers l'ecrivain. Trois grands themes toutefois nourrissent de maniere quasi-organique chacune des portes vers lui-meme: la Litterature, la Geographie et l'Histoire; piliers obsessionnels et fondamentaux d'une intelligence singuliere. Depuis le debut, je cours apres l'instant parfait, celui que rien ne viendrait troubler. Le moindre defaut, je m'acharnerai a le faire disparaitre, et si cela n'est pas possible, je m'acharnerai sur lui en pensee.Avec cet abecedaire, qui a chaque ligne pense, debat, se souvient, raconte et s'engage, Pierre Jourde compose un autoportrait solaire et tenebreux. Un autoportrait en clair-obscur. Et livre un texte hante, par le passe, ses fantomes; hante par d'inepuisables obsessions. Des images qui apparaissent (O comme Onirisme), des sensations diffuses, dont l'experience, dans des spheres paralleles, ajoute encore a la connaissance de soi. Pierre Jourde sacrifie donc a l'exercice dans les regles de l'art pour nous offrir un abecedaire-kaleidoscope aux infinies facettes et a la folle erudition.Une deambulation, a travers les lettres et la langue, profondement incarnee. Il livre, aux mains du lecteur, sa troublante verite."

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 8, 2015

About the author

Pierre Jourde, born on December 9, 1955, in Créteil (France), is a prominent French writer, also an university professor, and literary critic renowned for his provocative and incisive works that challenge societal norms and literary conventions. Growing up in a family with roots in the rural Auvergne region, Jourde developed an early fascination with the tensions between urban modernity and isolated provincial life, themes that would permeate his writing.

Jourde has taught French literature at the University of Grenoble (formerly Université Stendhal), where he specialized in 19th-century authors like Joris-Karl Huysmans, even co-editing a comprehensive edition of Huysmans' novels and short stories for the prestigious Bibliothèque de la Pléiade collection in 2019. As a critic, he has contributed to major publications, including sharp polemics in "Le Monde" and collaborations such as the bestselling Le Jourde & Naulleau (2004), co-authored with Éric Naulleau, which lampooned the pretensions of the French literary establishment.

Jourde's literary output is diverse and often controversial, blending novels, essays, and pamphlets. His debut novel, Les Peupliers, appeared in 1989, but he gained wider recognition with Festins secrets (2001), a satirical exploration of hidden desires in a small-town setting. His most infamous work, Pays perdu (2003), a semi-autobiographical novel depicting the decay and violence of his ancestral village of Lussaud in the Cantal department, sparked a real-life scandal. Upon returning to the village in 2005 with his family, Jourde was confronted by enraged locals who recognized themselves or their deceased relatives in the book's unflattering portraits. The incident escalated into a physical altercation, with stones thrown at his car, forcing him to flee. This event inspired La Première pierre (2006), a reflective essay on the violence provoked by literature.

Other notable novels include Les Bars lunaires (1993), L'Heure des singes (1998), and more recent works like Le Dégoût (2017) and Winter is Coming (2020), which continue his themes of alienation, grotesque realism, and cultural critique. His essays, such as La Littérature sans estomac (2002), deliver biting attacks on what he sees as the bland, politically correct conformity of contemporary French letters, drawing comparisons to polemicists like Philippe Muray.

Jourde's style is marked by dark humor, visceral prose, and a refusal to shy away from the abject or politically incorrect, often placing rural France under a merciless microscope.

He has two children, including the writer Gabriel Jourde, and resides between Paris and his native region. Despite—or perhaps because of—his penchant for provocation, Jourde remains a vital voice in French literature, unafraid to interrogate the "empire of goodness" that he believes stifles authentic expression.