2023-08-23 09:50:23
Installed in the middle of the forest in the Var, this former Parisian revives the Saint-Germain of Boris Vian. A delight.
Photo caption: VIAN THROUGH HERE_ Our hermit novelist brings to life one of Boris Vian’s most amazing creations.
You’re publishing your second novel, Life and Death of Vernon Sullivan, this fall. What has been your journey so far?
Dimitri Kantcheloff: I lived in Paris for thirteen years, I worked there in , I made music… Now I live in the forest, not far from Saint-Tropez, and I write.
Why were you interested in Vernon Sullivan, the pseudonym used by Boris Vian to publish his thrillers written in the late 1940s?
This story of Vernon Sullivan, who pursues him all his life, begins with a bet with a friend and ends with his death (at a 1959 screening of the film from I will spit on your graves, editor’s note). I had the idea during my adolescence, but I didn’t dare to attack Boris Vian, it’s scary. Having released a first novel (Supernova, published by Les Avrils in 2021, editor’s note) and being recognized as an author allowed me to understand this subject.
And why this choice of Finitude editions?
I sent my manuscript by post, and I knew that Emmanuelle and Thierry Boizet (founders of Finitudes editions, editor’s note) were specialists in this period of French literature. They had also devoted an issue of Capharnaüm (their excellent literary review, editor’s note) to the editions of Scorpion, first publisher of… Vernon Sullivan!
By documenting yourself on Boris Vian, what did you learn about his working methods?
When, in 1946, he wrote I will spit on your graves, it was following a bet where he said he was going to write a bestseller in ten days. Well, he puts fifteen in the end, but it’s extraordinary!
Apart from Vian, what are your influences?
Jean Echenoz and his trilogy of biographical stories with Zatopek, Ravel and Tesla. Mika Biermann also and his Three days in the life of Paul Cézanne. Without forgetting Emmanuelle Carrère and her Limonov, which is one of the books that made me want to write.
Was this second novel more complicated to write than the first?
No, much easier! I had a lot of fun with this environment, that of post-war Saint-Germain, absolutely fascinating. They come out of the war, they still experience rationing and have just experienced terrible events, and despite this they have a desire for freedom and celebration.
Life and death of Vernon Sullivan (Finitude editions, 176 pages, €17.50)
By Anaïs Dubois & Laurence Remila
Photo : Arnaud Juhérian
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#DIMITRI #KANTCHELOFF #DESIRE #FREEDOM