Bernard Comment
{{Short description|Swiss writer, translator, scriptwriter and publisher}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Bernard Comment (born 20 April 1960) is a Swiss writer, translator, scriptwriter, and publisher of books.
Early life
Bernard Comment was born in Porrentruy, Switzerland, on 20 April 1960. He is a son of the artist Jean-François Comment.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Dictionnaire du Jura|author1=Emma Chatelain|author2=Philippe Hebeisen|date=October 10, 2005|access-date=November 12, 2012|url=http://www.diju.ch/f/notices/detail/1759|language=fr|title=Comment, Bernard (1960–)}} His elder brother Gerard is the proprietor of a record store Collector Shop in his hometown.{{cite news|newspaper=L'illustré|title=BERNARD COMMENT: "MON MONDE SE DÉPLOIE DEPUIS PORRENTRUY"|author=Blaise Calame|date=April 26, 2011|access-date=November 12, 2012|url=http://www.illustre.ch/Bernard-Comment-ecrivain-litterature-livre-Tout-passe-Jura-Ajoie-Goncourt-2011_100257_.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108092409/http://www.illustre.ch/Bernard-Comment-ecrivain-litterature-livre-Tout-passe-Jura-Ajoie-Goncourt-2011_100257_.html|archive-date=January 8, 2014|df=mdy-all}}
Education
Career
Comment moved to Tuscany, where for four years he taught at the University of Pisa. He worked as a sports journalist, before moving to Paris to join as a research fellow at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.
=Literary=
He published his first novel L'ombre de mémoire{{cite book|title=L'ombre de mémoire|year=1990 |publisher=Christian Bourgois|language=fr|isbn=978-2267008784}} in 1990. Between 1993 and 1994, he was awarded a residential fellowship at the Villa Médicis, which inspired a tract against this kind of State-supported grants.
Comment has translated several books of Antonio Tabucchi into French.
In 2005, he succeeded Denis Roche as director at Fiction & Cie,{{cite news|newspaper=Premiere|url=http://fluctuat.premiere.fr/Livres/News/Bernard-Comment-3254076|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217123804/http://fluctuat.premiere.fr/Livres/News/Bernard-Comment-3254076|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2013|title=Bernard Comment Petits changements, grande continuité|language=fr|date=May 7, 2008|access-date=November 12, 2012}} and was appointed president of the Commission of the Novel at the Centre national du livre, which he held till 2008.{{cite web|publisher=Centre national du livre|url=http://www.centrenationaldulivre.fr/?Nouvel-article,1428|title=François Taillandier, nouveau président de la commission roman au CNL|date=May 29, 2008|access-date=November 12, 2012}}
In 2010, with Stanley Buchthal, he edited Fragments, a collection of intimate writings, poems and letters of Marilyn Monroe.{{cite book| title=Fragments. Poèmes, écrits intimes, lettres| publisher=Le Seuil| first=Marilyn| last=Monroe| author-link=Marilyn Monroe| language = fr| translator =Tiphaine Samoyault| year =2010|isbn=978-2021023282|editor1-first=Bernard|editor1-last=Comment|editor2-first=Stanley|editor2-last=Buchthal}}
=Film and broadcasting=
Along with Alain Tanner, he co-wrote the screenplays for the films Fourbi (1996), Requiem (1998), Jonas et Lila, Til Tomorrow (1999), Paul s'en va (2004). He also created with Bertrand Theubet, Le pied dans la fourmilière (1998) based on one of his novels.
He was a member of the international jury at the Locarno International Film Festival (1996) and Fribourg International Film Festival (1998).
In 1999, he was appointed as director of fiction at France Culture.
=Other=
In the 1980s, Comment was a secretary of the Swiss Association of Football Players.{{cite news|newspaper=Le Monde des Livres|title=Bernard Comment: secrets de famille|author=Raphaëlle Rérolle|date=May 13, 2011|page = 4}}
From October 2011, he has been an advisor of programming at Arte.{{cite news|newspaper=L'Humanité|author=Marie-José Sirach|title=Passage en force à la tête de la Maison de la poésie|language=fr|url=https://www.humanite.fr/culture/passage-en-force-la-tete-de-la-maison-de-la-poesie-506466|date=October 17, 2012|access-date=November 12, 2012}}
Awards and honours
- 1990: Prix Lipp Suisse for L'ombre de mémoire{{cite web|url=http://www.brasserie-lipp.com/default.asp?390332D3741663E62663336331D36E|title=Lauréats du Prix LIPP Suisse|publisher=Brasserie Lipp|access-date=November 12, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202135116/http://www.brasserie-lipp.com/default.asp?390332D3741663E62663336331D36E|archive-date=December 2, 2008|df=mdy-all}}
- 1990: Prix de la République et Canton du Jura{{cite news|newspaper=L'Hebdo|date=September 22, 1994|url=http://www.hebdo.ch/leacutecrivain_suisse_de_la_villa_meacutedicis_17950_.html|access-date=November 12, 2012|title=L'écrivain suisse de la villa Médicis|language=fr|author=Michel Audétat}}
- 1993: Prix Antigone for Allées et venues
- 1995: Award of Distinction of the Commission of French literature of the canton of Bern
- 2005: Award of the Canton of Bern for Un Poisson hors de l'eau{{cite web|url=http://www.be.ch/web/fr/kanton-mediencenter-mm-detail?id=6474|work=Canton de Berne|title=Prix de la Commission de littérature de langue française du canton de Berne: Les diverses facettes de la vie littéraire romande à l'honneur|language=fr|access-date=November 12, 2012|date=September 23, 2005}}
- 2010: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres{{cite web|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/artsetlettres/janvier2010.html|language=fr|work=Le Ministere|title=Nomination ou promotion dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Janvier 2010|access-date=November 12, 2012}}
- 2011: Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle for Tout passe{{cite news|newspaper=L'Express|url=http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/bernard-comment-goncourt-de-la-nouvelle-2011_988715.html|date=May 3, 2011|title=Bernard Comment, Goncourt de la nouvelle 2011|language=fr|access-date=November 12, 2012}}
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list|date=June 2017}}
=Novels=
- L'Ombre de mémoire, éditions Christian Bourgois, 1990 & Folio, 1999 (English: The Shadow of Memory{{cite book|title=The Shadow of Memory|others=(trans.) Betsy Wing|isbn=978-1564788436|year=2012|publisher=Dalkey Archive Press}})
- Allées et venues, éditions Christian Bourgois, 1992
- Florence, retours, éditions Christian Bourgois, 1994 & Éditions Gallimard|Folio, 2000
- Le Colloque des bustes, éditions Christian Bourgois, 2000 & Éditions Gallimard|Folio, 2002
- Un Poisson hors de l'eau, Éditions du Seuil, 2004 & Éditions Points, 2007
- Triptyque de l'ongle, Joca Seria, 2008
=Essays and stories=
==Collections==
- Roland Barthes, vers le Neutre, éditions Christian Bourgois, 1991
- Le XIXe siècle des panoramas, Adam Biro, 1993
- Les fourmis de la gare de Berne, Editions Zoe, 1996
- L'Ongle noir, Éditions Mille et une nuits, 1997
- Éclats cubains, with photographs by Jean-Luc Cramatte, Verticales/Grimoux, 1998
- Die Frauen der Antike, with Anselm Kiefer, éditions Yvon Lambert, 1999.
- The Panorama, Reaktion Books (London) and Abrams (New York).
- Même les oiseaux, éditions Christian Bourgois, 1998 & J'ai lu, 2000
- Doucet de fonds en combles, trésors d'une bibliothèque d'art, Herscher, 2004
- Entre deux, une enfance en Ajoie, Biro Editeur, 2007
- {{cite book |author=Comment, Bernard |title=Tout passes |publisher=Christian Bourgois |year=2011 }}
==List of stories==
| class='wikitable sortable' width='90%' |
| width=25%|Title
!|Year !|First published !|Reprinted/collected !|Notes |
|---|
| A failure
| | |
| |
=As editor=
- {{cite book |editor=Comment, Bernard |editor2=Stanley Buchtal |title=Fragments : poems, intimate notes, letters by Marilyn Monroe |year= }}
=Translations=
- Rêves de rêves, by Antonio Tabucchi. (1994)
- Récits complets : Le Jeu de l'envers – Petits malentendus sans importance – L'Ange noir, by Antonio Tabucchi. (1995)
- Il se fait tard de plus en plus tard, by Antonio Tabucchi. (2002)
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{Helveticat}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comment, Bernard}}
Category:20th-century Swiss novelists
Category:21st-century Swiss novelists
Category:French publishers (people)
Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Category:People from Porrentruy
Category:Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle recipients
Category:Swiss male short story writers
Category:Swiss short story writers
Category:Swiss writers in French