Meet our resident writer
Jean-Yves Laurichesse
A Professor of Modern and Contemporary French Literature with a string of publications on such authors as Jean Giono, Claude Simon and Richard Millet, Jean-Yves Laurichesse brought out his first novel in 2008: a further ten books have followed. His works are short and apparently straightforward, yet their realism shades into mystery, and all are deeply thought-provoking. In some he explores family history through letters, documents and most recently through extracts of an unpublished novel written by his father (Le destin d’un poète, 2025). He is also inspired by locations that become transformed in his writing. Some are real: Paris and Perpignan, Corrèze and Haute-Provence. Some are imagined: two of his novels are for example based on paintings by Bruegel. Written in clear, fresh prose, Laurichesse’s works are warm-hearted and accessible, tinged with nostalgia and whimsy, and anchored in a profound belief in the importance of literature and art.
https://jylaurichesse.e-monsite.com
Residency events
Les représentations du monde rural dans la littérature française contemporaine
1 October 2025, United Colleges Room 31, 1:00-2:00pm
Le thème rural, porté depuis la fin du XIX siècle par le « roman régionaliste », discrédité après la Seconde Guerre mondiale par sa récupération pétainiste, a fait l’objet, dans les années 1970, d’un renversement idéologique et d’un engouement public, qui ont permis son retour progressif comme thème majeur d’une littérature exigeante. Après avoir retracé à grands traits cette histoire, je présenterai quelques œuvres marquantes depuis les années 1980, d’abord hantées par la mélancolie d’un monde révolu (Pierre Michon, Pierre Bergounioux, Richard Millet), puis s’ouvrant progressivement à une représentation du monde rural d’aujourd’hui, qui tente non sans difficultés de continuer l’histoire (Marie-Hélène Lafon, Jean-Batiste Del Amo, Aurélien Delsaux).
Representations of the Rural World in Contemporary French Literature
The rural theme, promoted during the late nineteenth century by the ‘regionalist novel’ but discredited after WWII thanks to its place in Pétainist discourse, underwent an ideological reversal in the 1970s, enjoying a new popularity which enabled its gradual return as a major theme for a challenging kind of literature. After briefly retracing this history, I will discuss some notable texts published since the 1980s, from those haunted by a melancholy nostalgia for a vanished world (Pierre Michon, Pierre Bergounioux, Richard Millet) to works that have gradually embraced a representation of the rural world of today, and which try, not without difficulties, to continue this tradition (Marie-Hélène Lafon, Jean-Batiste Del Amo, Aurélien Delsaux).
The following links include further information on the writer and the topic of his talk:
Page de Jean-Yves Laurichesse sur le site du laboratoire Patrimoine, Littérature, Histoire
Séminaire sur « Ecopoétique et ruralités littéraires » (animé par Dominique Viart et Agathe Novak-Lechevalier, avec la participation de Sylviane Coyault, Marie-Hélène Lafon et Jean-Yves Laurichesse, 23 mai 2022, Université Paris Nanterre) :
Jean-Yves Laurichesse: entre mémoire et fiction
9 October 2025, School II (St Salvator’s Quad), 6.00 – 7.30pm
Join us for an evening of readings and conversation on these and other topics as we discuss (in accessible French) Jean-Yves’s inspirations and influences, his evolution as a novelist and his thoughts on the art of writing today.
A limited number of Jean-Yves’s books will be available for purchase and signature; sales will be cash only.