Invited by the Alliance Francaise in China, French author Patrick Deville travelled through China for three weeks visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Chengdu, Hangzhou and also Macau, meeting with Chinese students and local residents. The Macau session was co-organized by the Alliance Francaise of Macao and The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival, with the conference taking place at the Portuguese Bookshop.
Accompanied by locally-based French commentator and writer Eric Sautedé who also translated at the conference, Patrick Deville shared his experiences as a writer who has incorporated travel, historical research, journalistic investigation and various other writing styles into his monumental tomes.
Born in 1957 in France, Patrick Deville’s first book Cordon-Bleu was published in 1987 under the Editions de Minuit. In 2001, the author left Minuit for the Editions du Seuil with which he published Pura Vida in 2004, the first novel of his new literary project entitled Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. This project is composed of twelve novels divided into four trilogies. Editions du Seuil later assembled Pura Vida, Equatoria (2009), and Kampuchea (2011) into one single volume: Sic Transit. In 2012, his book Peste et Cholera was awarded the Prix Femina and went on to achieve great success in the literary world.
For this highly creative literary project, the author travelled extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia and Latin America researching the historical background of the stories. Each of his novels starts at a precise period of time – 1860. His books cover different territories as well as different periods of time, from one chapter to another. The reader follows particular writers or narrators, or other characters, as they trace their exceptional stories that are composed against the grand background of history.
As he jumps from territory to territory, époque to époque, Deville’s writing styles also alter. From autobiography to travel memoir; from essay to interview; from journalistic reportage to fantastic fiction styles, these different forms of literature build up into a world of essentially intrinsic nature.
Looking at our world today, Deville’s work is of deep relevance if we are interested in tracing back what humanity has gone through so far. Has it been for scientific progress? Or is it for the myth of ego that thinks itself to be invincible forever?
“Agir ou pas agir (To act or not to act?),” says Patrick Deville during the conference. “It is the main question raised in my books and it is also the question that human beings are confronted with every single day.”
Deville further explains in the interview with CLOSER that his project is one of Universalism. “Human life is the same everywhere and is always the same. And only literature can deal with the big questions on humanity and the human condition.”
As for his impressions of China, he explains that it is still very fresh for him. During the last ten years, Chinese have migrated everywhere in the world. The development of the country has been rapid and for Deville, it is certainly a subject of interest and novelty.
“It is very contradictory at the same time. On one side there are things that are admirable, but there are also a lot of concerns. For example the pollution of the environment, the water, the air, the animals…and it is not only for China, it is also for the whole planet.”
Deville discloses the fact that in his upcoming novel, he has planned a chapter for China. “The novel will take place in France, but I will insert one chapter especially for China. But how it will be, for now, I won’t say,” he concludes with a smile.
