L'entretien littéraire –Portrait d’un autoportrait
The Literary Interview – Portrait of a Self-Portrait

Summary/Abstract: L’ entretien littéraire (the literary interview) is a special genre, agreable to read, gaining its readers through the offer of confession and the supposition of honesty that the questioned author is supposed to have. The recoil on one’s life and work is always an occasions for clarification and enlightenment, for those having consequently followed, appreciated, criticised the literary production of one specific writer. The genre does not have a determined structure, therefore we approached two famous, representative books, treating two even more famous authors, M Yourcenar and M Duras, in which two famous writers speak about themselves. The classical form of the genre is obvious in the book written by Matthieu Galey along with Marguerite Yourcenar, named Les yeux ouverts. On its cover, under the name of Marguerite Yourcenar, written in a big font, stands the mention “de l’Académie française” (of the French Academy). Under the title, stands the large portrait of the writer and at the bottom of the page “entretiens avec Matthieu Galey” (interviews with Matthieu Galey). It is not the same for the second book, La vie matérielle, as on its cover stays the name of Marguerite Duras. On the title page, “page de grand titre” in French, it is mentioned: “Marguerite Duras parle à Jérôme Beaujour” (Marguerite Duras speaks to Jérôme Beaujour). Only, Jérôme Beaujour does not really speak in this book. It is understood that he is the silent interlocutor of Marguerite Duras, who makes disarming, overwhelming confessions. The two books machieve, in our perspective, portraits of self-portraits. Why and how? As speaking of themselves they shape self-portaits, and the literary genre they approach uses the resources of the portrait, configured and stimulated by the (assumed) conversation, in each case, a portrait of a self-portrait is born.

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