Butor, Michel

Butor, Michel

▪ French author
in full  Michel-Marie-François Butor  
born Sept. 14, 1926, Mons-en-Baroeul, France

      French novelist and essayist, one of the leading exponents of the nouveau roman (New Novel) (“new novel”), the avant-garde French novel that emerged in the 1950s.

      Butor studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and from 1951 to 1953 was a lecturer at the University of Manchester. He was subsequently a teacher in Thessaloníki, Greece (1954–55), Geneva, Switz. (1956–57 and 1975–91), and numerous other cities in the United States and France. After an early experimental novel, Passage de Milan (1954; “Milan Passage”), Butor won critical acclaim with L'Emploi du temps (1956; Passing Time), a complex evocation of his gloomy season in Manchester. With his third novel, La Modification (1957; Second Thoughts, or A Change of Heart), Butor perfected his experimental technique and was considered to have arrived at his full powers. The work won the Prix Renaudot.

      Butor, who regarded the novel as a blend of philosophy and poetry, owed much in his fiction to the influence of James Joyce. A feature common to all his novels is a rigid structure. Passage de Milan takes place in a single day in a tenement building, and in La Modification the setting is a journey in a compartment of the Paris-Rome express. Degrés (1960; Degrees), his fourth novel, imposes on the action the rigid pattern of a college timetable.

      His subsequent fiction includes Portrait de l'artiste en jeune singe (1967; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ape), Intervalle (1973), and Explorations (1981; with verse). Outstanding among his nonfiction works are Mobile (1962; Eng. trans. Mobile), a prose-rhapsody aiming to capture the spirit of the United States, and Description de San Marco (1963; Description of San Marco). He also published several collections of poetry and critical essays, including Répertoire, 5 vol. (1960–82), Improvisations sur Flaubert (1984), L'Utilité poétique (1995), and Octogénaire (2006). Other works include the novel Boomerang (1978) and the long essay Improvisations sur Rimbaud (1989).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Butor, Michel — ► (n. 1926) Novelista y ensayista francés, a quien se ha considerado incluido en la corriente del Nouveau roman. Obras: Pasaje de Milán (1954), El empleo del tiempo (1956) y La modificación (1957) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Butor — Butor, Michel …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Michel Butor — en 2002 Activités poète, romancier, essayiste Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

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  • Butor — Michel Butor Michel Marie François Butor (* 14. September 1926 in Mons en Barœul) ist ein französischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Auszeic …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Michel Butor — Michel Butor. Michel Marie François Butor (Mons en Barœul, 14 de septiembre de 1926) es un escritor francés. Contenido 1 Biografí …   Wikipedia Español

  • Michel Butor — Michel Marie François Butor (* 14. September 1926 in Mons en Barœul bei Lille) ist ein französischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • butor — [ bytɔr ] n. m. • XIIe; du lat. buteo, butio, mais élément final i., p. ê. taurus « taureau » 1 ♦ Oiseau échassier des marais au plumage fauve et tacheté (ciconiiformes), dont le cri évoque le mugissement du taureau, appelé aussi bœuf d eau. 2 ♦… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • BUTOR (M.) — Associé vers 1955 à Nathalie Sarraute, à Claude Simon, à Robert Pinget, à Alain Robbe Grillet, dans un groupe littéraire appelé avec une certaine légèreté «nouveau roman», Michel Butor n’a cessé depuis d’œuvrer solitairement. Les voyages l’ont… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Michel Deguy — (* 1930 in Paris) ist ein französischer Dichter und Philosoph. Er lehrt als Professor für französische Literatur an der Universität Paris VIII (Universität Paris 8 Vincennes Saint Denis) sowie an der European Graduate School in Saas Fee,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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