Réponses: The autobiography of Françoise Sagan

by Françoise Sagan

Reponses: The Autobiography of Francoise Sagan

Genres: French Literature, France, Nonfiction, Biography

156 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1974

About the author

Born Françoise Quoirez, Sagan grew up in a French Catholic, bourgeois family. She was an independent thinker and avid reader as a young girl, and upon failing her examinations for continuing at the Sorbonne, she became a writer.

She went to her family's home in the south of France and wrote her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, at age 18. She submitted it to Editions Juillard in January 1954 and it was published that March. Later that year, She won the Prix des Critiques for Bonjour Tristesse.

She chose "Sagan" as her pen name because she liked the sound of it and also liked the reference to the Prince and Princesse de Sagan, 19th century Parisians, who are said to be the basis of some of Marcel Proust's characters.

She was known for her love of drinking, gambling, and fast driving. Her habit of driving fast was moderated after a serious car accident in 1957 involving her Aston Martin while she was living in Milly, France.

Sagan was twice married and divorced, and subsequently maintained several long-term lesbian relationships. First married in 1958 to Guy Schoeller, a publisher, they divorced in 1960, and she was then married to Robert James Westhoff, an American ceramicist and sculptor, from 1962 to 63. She had one son, Denis, from her second marriage.

She won the Prix de Monaco in 1984 in recognition of all of her work.

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A selection of interviews given by Sagan between the years of 1954 and 1980. She opens up with wit and honesty on such themes as childhood, love, money, writing and the success of Bonjour Tristesse, the car accident that nearly killed her, theatre, film, politics and, simply being herself. Much more enjoyable in vignette style than slogging through a long and tiresome bio. A short and simple question is asked - she answers. A couple of hours reading most definitely well spent.

Anyone that skips school swimming sessions to go over the road and drink martinis in a café sounds pretty cool to me. You know what, it's friday, it's after 3, I'll bloody well have one myself!


A few snippets —

As the heroine of La Robe Mauve de Valentine puts it, "I always end up lookng as people want me to look." So I'm the woman who squanders millions, runs over old ladies in a jaguar, takes a cynical delight in shocking people and spends her whole life in nightclubs. But that woman simply does not exist. There are passages in my books that give the lie to all that, but no one ever seems to read them.


From a financial point of view I can't complain, I lead a very comfortable life. But I'm like everyone else in France; I don't like it when they take my money away from me and use it to build little missiles and atom bombs. I don't mind paying taxes if the money goes to those who need it: the old and the sick.


I see myself as being carefree rather than trivial, but I'd rather be thought of as trivial than as a hard-headed intellectual. I get very bored listening to all these liberated women rabbiting on, all so sure of themselves, so responsible and spending eight hours a day cooped up in a little office. I like to dream, to do nothing. I like to watch the time go by without feeling bored or empty. That's real liberation. I'm incapable of forcing myself to do things I don't want to do. I take life as it comes, I look left and right, but I don't look ahead and I don't look back over my shoulder.


I loathe this flood of eroticism. It annoys me. Suggestion is more important than provocation. It's so boring, so unimaginative. If you really want eroticism, you should go back to de Sade and Sacher-Masoch, tie people up in corners, beat them and then rub salt in the wounds. All these displays of naked people making love are so boring. What has it got to do with me if they make love with the light on or off, if she wears a nightgown or not, if they wear pajama tops or not, if they talk, cry out or whatever?


I'm still on friendly terms with my former husbands. And I still have the same men friends. I ought to build a sort of pen for them. The trouble is, it might become a little crowded.

[Ivana Books Are Magic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nabasah danas na ovu knjigu u antikvarijatu. Sagan je spisateljica koju sam već čitala i koja mi se svidjela (posebno me se dojmio njezin roman Modrice na duši) pa kupih knjigu bez imalo razmišljanja misleći da se radi o još jednom njenom romanu. Pomalo me iznenadi što je u pitanju knjiga u kojoj su sklupljeni razni njezini odgovori na novinarska pitanja (moglo bi ju se nazvati knjigom intervjua) no čim sam počela čitati shvatih koliko ću uživati u odgovorima Francoise Sagan. Pitanja se poprilično razlikuju, neka postavljena pitanja su osobne prirode, neka pitanja su vezana uz društvene događaje i politička pitanja određenog vremena, a neka su više književne, intelektualne i umjetničke naravi. Zanimljivo je da je glas Sagan prepoznatljiv bez obzira o kakvim se pitanjima radilo.

Dok sam čitala najviše me fasciniralo upravo to cijela knjiga ima tako prepoznatljiv i bezvremenski glas i ton, kao da se radi o jednom veoma dugačkom intervju, a ne o nizu pitanja i odgovora danih kroz niz godina. Nevjerojatno je koliko je Sagan pribrana i promišljena u svojim odgovorima, a čak i kada su pitanja pomalo i trivijalna ona ih uspjeva ili okrenuti na šalu ili pretvoriti u nešto dublje. Njena promišljanja o životu i umjetnosti su me se veoma dojmila. Čak su mi i njezini pogledi na događaje tog vremena (a koji su sada prošlost) bili zanimljivi. Dio koji govori o njenom djetinstvu je radostan, ali puna je kritika prema modernom dobu. Njeno pesimističko viđenje svijeta mi se iz današnje perspektive čini vidovitim. Njeno kritiziranje modernog društva, otuđenja ljudi i sveprisutne vulgarizacije je zapravo vrlo aktualno. Uhvatila sam sebe kako se u mnogočemu slažem sa njom. Čini mi se da je u nekim stvarima bila i vizionar. Oduševila me ova knjiga, pročitala sam ju u dahu. Jedino što joj zamjeram je što nije duža. Poprilično sam sigurna da ću je ponovo pročitati i mislim da je to najbolja preporuka što mogu dati.

[evaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

tea

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

250809: wish I had read this years ago. she is light, wise, insightful. she inspires me to read her in French...

[Julia]

"I'm fatally attracted to things that are disturbing, things that unsettle a way of life. The moment it looks as though someone might fall and hurt himself, I become interested in him."

[Bruno · Rating 5 out of 5]

As this is my last book to read in the line of Sagan's works, I find it appropriate to send them off with a style. ,,Responses'' are a collections of interviews she gave up to 1974 and it contains questions and answers, revolving her childhood, published works, impact on the readers, life and love as her main themes, views on a world, personal life and the so called ,,Sagan phenomenon''. It was quite interesting work and it contained so many wise quotes, that I just couldn't write them all in my notebook, because of the content. To say that she was an incredible person is just the tip of the iceberg, as she doesn't hide what she wants to say out of her mind. Who would have thought that a reread of a book about a man with a new view on the life (,,A Fleeting Sorrow'') will wake up an interest in me for her works. I suggest everyone, before reading this book, to look for 4-5 of her early novels, to fully understand and appreciate her work (it won't take too much time, as they are easy to read and more like novellas than novels).

[Amina · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, this is some of her finest work, as odd as that may sound. She is brutally honest, she is insightful, she is routine, she has nothing to hide and that is unusual for a writer in her position. Even if you are not a fan of her work, I feel with this book you will become a fan of Francoise Sagan, as a person.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

adored it. wish it was longer.

[Tosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

When one wanders through the library you find the strangest passions... or not. Just by my mood, I picked up on and read "Reponses by Françoise Sagan, which is basically a book length Q & A regarding her, her writings, her passions, her thoughts on religion, politics, etc. She has always struck me as the French queen of the Young Adult market, and this is not a put-down. It seems that she came upon the world at the right moment and place for her and the literary world at the time. I don't know if her work has any pull now in the 21st Century, but I think the 1950s was all about the structure of life and family - well, it is now as well - but then, the questions were a lot bigger on the larger landscape of a country that through a heavy war. As someone who is writing, I did find her thoughts on the craft interesting, but nothing unique. Basically it's the same for everyone, where you think of the white page in front of you - and how you arrange words on that blank whiteness that you have to confront on a regular basis. Oh, and thank gawd for the library. There is no place like to roam.

[Richie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to find this as insightful or as moving as I did. It really opens a window into Sagan's soul which you get glimpses of in her novels but not as directly. I am glad that her philosophies in her stories line up with her personal views. She really was an amazing, insightful person.

[Keizo69 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a chance to think about love and life.

[Thanh Thanh · Rating 5 out of 5]

une longue conversation avec ma romancière préférée.

[Effy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One final word. One last wish."
"I wish I were ten again. I wish I weren't an adult."

[kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

U jednom zagrebačkom antikvarijatu, naletila sam na Dobar dan, tugo ne znajući koliko će mi autorica pomoći u razumijevanju nekih općeljudskih tematika. Knjiga mi je brzo prirasla k srcu te sam se u dan dva vratila po naslov Čudesni oblaci. U jednom je trenutku autorica rekla koliko se uživi u likove svojih priča, a to se ne može ne primijetiti u Čudesnim oblacima.
Nakon dvije navedene knjige, uzela sam ovu knjigu Odgovori, misleći da će biti klasična autoričina knjiga čiji me likovi neće ostaviti ravnodušnom. Međutim, nisam ni pomislila da se radi o skupu intervjua koji ukratko prikazuju Sagan kao jednu osobu širokog zanimanja za čovjeka, osjećaja osamljenosti i ljudskih odnosa uopće. Ne može li ljepše od toga?

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so much an autobiography as a collection of interviews from throughout the years. Consequently it feels as if it's just skimming the surface of all time, without any depth. It is occasionally engaging and revealing, but I can't say I learnt much about Sagan from it - Scars on the Soul was much more interesting in what it revealed (or didn't) about her life. 5/10

[Amila · Rating 5 out of 5]

U knjizi su pitanja postavljena Sagan u časopisima, gdje opisuje svoj život i razmišljanja. . Zadnja rečenica u knjizi: Voljela bih da opet imam deset godina, žao mi je što sam odrasla; opisuje nas dosta. Jako zanimljiva žena.