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{{Short description|French writer (1919–1997)}}
{{expand French|topic=bio|date=June 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| embed =
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Robert Pinget
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Robert Pinget c. 1957.jpg
| image_size =
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| caption = Pinget {{circa|1957}}
| native_name =
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|07|19|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Geneva]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|08|25|1919|07|19|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Tours]], France
| resting_place =
| occupation =
| language =
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| alma_mater =
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement = [[Nouveau roman]]
| notable_works = ''The Inquisitory''
''Someone''
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'''Robert Pinget''' ({{IPA|fr|ʁɔbɛʁ pɛ̃ʒɛ}}; 19 July 1919 – 25 August 1997) was a Swiss-born [[French language|French]] novelist and playwright associated with the [[nouveau roman]] movement.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Riding |first=Alan |date=1997-09-12 |title=Robert Pinget, 78, a Master Of the Nouveau Roman, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/12/books/robert-pinget-78-a-master-of-the-nouveau-roman-dies.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Life and work==
Robert Pinget was born in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]] in 1919. After completing his law studies at the [[Collège de Genève]] and working as a lawyer for a year, he moved to Paris in 1946 to attend the [[École des Beaux-Arts|Ecole des Beaux-Arts]] where he studied painting under {{interlanguage link|Jean Souverbie|fr}}.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2016-11-07 |title=Robert Pinget {{!}} RED DUST BOOKS |url=http://reddustbooks.com/robert-pinget-2/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107151234/http://reddustbooks.com/robert-pinget-2/ |archive-date=7 November 2016 }}</ref>

In 1951, he published his first novel, ''Entre Fantoine et Agapa''. After publishing two other novels, but then having his fourth rejected by [[Éditions Gallimard|Gallimard]], Pinget was recommended by [[Alain Robbe-Grillet]] and [[Samuel Beckett]] to [[Jérôme Lindon]], head of [[Les Éditions de Minuit|Éditions de Minuit]], where he published ''Graal Flibuste'' in 1956, and subsequently the rest of his work. He became a French citizen in 1960, and purchased a 16th-century house in [[Touraine]] where he spent the rest of his life.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Le chantier Robert Pinget : Colloque de Tours |publisher=Jean-Michel Place |year=2000 |pages=13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pinget Robert |url=https://www.leseditionsdeminuit.fr/auteur-Pinget_Robert-1379-1-1-0-1.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=www.leseditionsdeminuit.fr}}</ref>

Scholars and critics have often associated his work with that of his friend [[Samuel Beckett]], whom he met in 1955.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mégevand |first=Martin |date=2010 |title=Pinget seen by Beckett, Beckett according to Pinget: The Unpublishable |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26469652 |journal=Journal of Beckett Studies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=3–14 |doi=10.3366/E0309520709000417 |jstor=26469652 |issn=0309-5207|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smart |first=Marie |date=2014 |title=New Novel, Old Tune: Beckett and Pinget in Postwar France |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/548000 |journal=Modernism/Modernity |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=529–546 |doi=10.1353/mod.2014.0054 |issn=1080-6601|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

He died of a stroke in [[Tours]] in 1997.<ref name=":0" />

== Adaptations ==
''[[The Old Tune]]'', Samuel Beckett's free translation of ''La Manivelle'', was produced by [[Barbara Bray]] and broadcast on [[BBC Third Programme]] on 23 August 1960.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1960-08-23 |title=BBC Programme Index |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ff1182caba7a42e1b90d8512ede4473e |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124201437/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ff1182caba7a42e1b90d8512ede4473e |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 January 2021 |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

In 1962, [[Germaine Tailleferre]] of [[Les Six]] set eleven of Pinget's poems in a song cycle entitled "[[Pancarte pour une porte d'entrée (Tailleferre)|Pancarte pour Une Porte D'Entrée]]" (roughly translated as "Handbill for an Entrance") for medium voice and piano, commissioned by the American Soprano and Arts Patron [[Alice Swanson Esty]].

==Bibliography==

=== Novels ===

* ''Entre Fantoine et Agapa'' (La Tour de Feu, 1951). ''[[Between Fantoine and Agapa]]'', trans. [[Barbara Wright (translator)|Barbara Wright]] (Red Dust, 1982)
* ''Mahu ou le Matériau'' ([[Éditions Robert Laffont|Robert Laffont]], 1952). ''[[Mahu or The Material]]'', trans. Alan Smith (Calder & Boyars, 1966; Dalkey Archive, 2005)
* ''Le Renard et la boussole'' (Gallimard, 1953).
* ''Graal Flibuste'' ([[Les Éditions de Minuit|Ed. de Minuit]], 1956). ''[[Graal Flibuste]]'', trans. Anna Fitzgerald (Dalkey Archive, 2014)
* ''Baga'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1958). ''[[Baga (novel)|Baga]]'', trans. John Stevenson (Calder & Boyars, 1967; 1984)
* ''Le Fiston'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1959). ''[[Monsieur Levert]]'', trans. [[Richard Howard]] (Grove, 1961); also as ''No Answer'', trans. Richard N. Coe (Calder, 1961)
* ''L'Inquisitoire'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1962). ''[[The Inquisitory]]'', trans. Donald Watson (Calder & Boyars, 1966; 1982; 2003)
* ''Quelqu'un'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1965). ''Someone'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1984)
* ''Le Libera'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1968). ''[[The Libera Me Domine]]'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1978)
* ''Passacaille'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1969). ''Recurrent Melody'', trans. Barbara Wright (Calder & Boyars, 1975); republished as ''Passacaglia'' (Red Dust, 1978)
* ''Fable'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1971). ''Fable'', trans. Barbara Wright (Calder, 1980)
* ''Cette voix'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1975). ''[[That Voice]]'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1982)
* ''L'Apocryphe'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1980). ''The Apocrypha'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1986)
* ''Monsieur Songe'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1982). ''[[Monsieur Songe]]'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1988)
* ''Le Harnais'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1984). ''The Harness'' (1988)
* ''Charrue'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1985). ''Plough'' (1988)
* ''L'Ennemi'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1987). ''The Enemy'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1991)
* ''Du Nerf'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1990). ''Be Brave'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1994)
* ''Cette Chose'' (1967; 1990). By Robert Pinget and Jean Deyrolle (editor)
* ''Théo ou Le temps neuf'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1991). ''[[Théo or The New Era]]'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1994)
* ''Tâches d'encre'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1997). ''[[Traces of Ink]]'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 2000)
* ''Mahu reparle'' (Ed. des Cendres, 2009)
* ''La Fissure, précédée de Malicotte-la-Frontière'' (Ed. MētisPresses, 2009)
* ''Jean Loiseau'', in ''[[Histoires littéraires]]'' n° 40 (2010)

=== Plays ===

* ''Lettre morte'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1959). ''Dead Letter'' (1963)
* ''La Manivelle'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1960). Bilingual edition with [[Samuel Beckett]]'s free translation, ''[[The Old Tune]]''
* ''Clope au dossier'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1961). ''Clope'' (1963)
* ''Ici ou ailleurs, Architruc, L'Hypothèse'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1961)
* ''Autour de Mortin'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1965). ''About Mortin'' (1967)
* ''Abel et Bela'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1971). ''[[Abel and Bela]]'', trans. Barbara Wright (Red Dust, 1987)
* ''Identité'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1971)
* ''Paralchimie'', suivi de ''Architruc, L'Hypothèse, Nuit'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1973)
* ''Un testament bizarre, et autres pièces'' (Ed. de Minuit, 1986). Includes: ''Un testament bizarre, Mortin pas mort, Dictée, Sophisme et sadisme, Le chrysanthème, Lubie''
* ''De rien'' (1992). ''About Nothing'' (1989)
* ''L'Affaire Ducreux, et autres pièces'' (1995). Includes: ''L'Affaire Ducreux, De rien, Nuit, Le bifteck''

=== Compilations in English ===
* ''Plays, Volume 1'' (Calder, 1963). Includes: ''The Old Tune'' (trans. Samuel Beckett); ''Clope'' (trans. [[Barbara Bray]]); ''Dead Letter'' (trans. Barbara Bray).
* ''Plays, Volume 2'' (Calder & Boyars, 1967). Includes: ''Architruc''; ''About Mortin''; ''The'' ''Hypothesis''. Translations by Barbara Bray.
* ''[[Monsieur Songe]]'' (Red Dust, 1988). Also includes "The Harness" and "Plough"''.'' Translations by Barbara Wright.
* ''A Bizarre Will and Other Plays'' (Red Dust, 1989). Includes: ''A Bizarre Will''; ''Mortin Not Dead''; ''Dictation''; ''Sophism and Sadism''; ''The Chrysanthemum''; ''Crazy Notion''; ''Night''; and ''About Nothing.'' Translations by Barbara Wright.
* ''Trio'' (Dalkey Archive, 2005). Includes: ''Between Fantoine and Agapa''; ''That Voice''; ''Passacaglia.'' Translations by Barbara Wright.

===Interviews and works about Pinget===
* ''Robert Pinget: The Novel as Quest'', by Robert Henkels, 1977.
* [[Jean-Louis de Rambures]], "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (includes an interview with R. Pinget, in French)

== Awards and honors ==

* 1959: Prix Rambert, for ''Le Fiston''
* 1965: [[Prix Femina]], for ''Quelqu'un''
* 1987: [[Grand prix national des Lettres]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Helveticat}}
* [http://www.robert-pinget.com The official website of Robert Pinget]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000119055601/http://www.pugzine.com/pug4/rip4.html |date=January 19, 2000 |title=Obituary in English }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040708150905/http://www.argyro.net/colloque/pinget/biopinget.htm Biography, in French]
* [http://www.chez.com/pinget/index.html A comprehensive web site in French]

{{Prix Femina}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinget, Robert}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Geneva]]
[[Category:Prix Femina winners]]
[[Category:20th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French male novelists]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to France]]

Robert Pinget - Revision history

Deleatur yhe at 18:51, 25 September 2026

Deleatur yhe: Created page