En me penchant sur cet episode des "ballets roses," j'ai suivi un itineraire a la fois historique, anecdotique et personnel, jusqu'a ce moment du XXe siecle ou se croisent trois le heros legendaire (Charles de Gaulle), le bourgeois modere (Rene Coty) et l'ambitieux humilie (Andre Le Troquer). J'ai ainsi plonge dans ces "annees cinquante" qui precederent ma naissance et qui me fascinent comme l'ultime parade d'une France disparue. Sur les pas d'Andre Le Troquer, j'ai rencontre des starlettes et des modistes devenues reines de Paris, une fausse comtesse roumaine, des politiciens grivois trainant dans les coulisses de l'Opera, une Republique encore accrochee a son Empire, une justice paternaliste, des rues sombres et des maisons closes, des music-halls rive-droite ou Maurice Chevalier et Damia chantaient encore, des cabarets rive-gauche ou Brassens et Ferre chantaient deja; bref, ce monde en noir et blanc, si proche et si lointain, juste avant les bouleversements de notre modernite."
Benoît Duteurtre (20 March 1960 – 16 July 2024) was a French novelist and essayist. He was also a musical critic, musician, producer and host of a radio show about music. He spent his time between Paris, New York and Normandy.
Benoît Duteurtre was born in Sainte-Adresse, Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, where he spent his first years. He was the son of Jean-Claude Duteurtre and Marie-Claire Georges. He was also the great-grandson of the French president René Coty. He attended Saint-Joseph, a Catholic educational institution in Le Havre. Duteurtre began to write at an early age. At fifteen, he presented his first texts to Armand Salacrou, a French dramatist established in Le Havre, who encouraged him to pursue his efforts. Le Havre, a heavily destroyed city during World War II and rebuilt in the structural classicism style will often reappear in Duteurtre's later works.
At the age of sixteen, Benoît Duteurtre was fascinated with modern music, especially the work of Pierre Boulez. In 1977, Benoît began musicology studies at the University of Rouen, France. That same year, he met Karlheinz Stockhausen and, a year later, Iannis Xenakis. In 1979, Benoît Duteurtre studied for a month with György Ligeti, whose musical theory later had a strong influence in his life. He graduated with a license in Musicology.
Enquête sur un scandale mediatico-politique de la fin des années 1950 où une époque et un pays aujourd'hui disparus revivent grace au talent d'évocation de l'auteur. Entre Simenon, Audiard et Gerard de Villiers, un plaisir !