1984 · France-Empire
Ils ont réussi
(They made it)
Thirteen long conversations with thirteen French figures at the height of their craft, from Marguerite Yourcenar to Paul Bocuse. One question: how does one make a success of a life?
After the wars and the conclaves, I wanted to sit down with people who had, each in their own way, won their wager. Not to flatter them: to understand. Where does success come from? Talent, work, luck, an old wound? I put the question to thirteen figures who had nothing in common but that.
Thirteen destinies
- Jean-Louis Barrault, theatre incarnate
- Maurice Béjart, the choreographer who changed dance
- Paul Bocuse, the chef of the century
- Bernard Buffet, the painter both adored and disputed
- Guy des Cars, the novelist with millions of readers
- César, the sculptor
- Édouard Leclerc, the Breton grocer who became an emperor of retail
- Michel Legrand, French music in Hollywood
- Paul Ricard, the industrialist and builder
- Léon Schwartzenberg, the cancer specialist
- Madame Soleil, the astrologer all of France listened to
- Yves Saint-Martin, champion jockey
- Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman elected to the Académie française
These conversations capture an era, that of a France which still believed everything was possible for those willing to work for it. The book, published by France-Empire in 1984, is now out of print. It can be found in second-hand bookshops.
Worth knowing
- Thirteen interviews conducted by me.
- Cited in the bibliography devoted to jockey Yves Saint-Martin.
- Out of print: available second-hand only.
