L'Eté Littéraire des Deux Magots, 2019 edition Boris Vian
The friends of our establishment, as well as music and literature lovers, celebrated the third edition of “L’Eté Littéraire des Deux Magots” on Monday, June 24. This moment of sharing, imagined to celebrate the beautiful days and to give ideas of reading to each one during the vacations, was placed this year under the benevolent presence of an immense artist of the XXth century: the “Prince of Saint-Germain-des-Prés” Boris Vian.
The evening was co-organized with the Cohérie Boris Vian, trustee of his work, and was part of a series of events at Les Deux Magots that will celebrate the “Boris Vian Centennial” in 2019 and 2020.
This summer’s literary selection is a tribute to this artist and his eclectic genius. Four books in his mind, and four authors who have kindly lent themselves to the game of dedications.
In the category of novels, the singer Cali presented us his second novel, “Cavale ça veut dire s’arrêter”, published by Cherche midi éditeur. The Science Fiction category was represented by Philippe Curval, a pioneer of the genre in France and a friend of Boris Vian in his time when the latter was translating SF. His novel “Black Bottom” (Editions La Volte) is the latest opus in a long and rich career. Obviously, there had to be a poetry category, and it was Jean-Pierre Siméon, President of the Jury of the Apollinaire Prize awarded to Les Deux Magots, who presented us his collection “Levez-vous du tombeau” published by Gallimard. Finally, to symbolize the non-conformism of Boris Vian, a category “Décalé” with the singular and multi-primed Jean Teulé, publishing “Gare à Lou!
The evening was festive, animated by the desire to have fun as the great jazz lover and nightlife enthusiast Boris Vian knew so well. In a nod to his mythical novel “L’écume des jours”, a splendid carved wooden pianococktail was enthroned in the room to make the zazous and other guests dance, and distill cocktails born from the association of notes played on the piano.
The singer Chloé Cassandre, with her personal voice and undeniable stage presence, played with the audience of connoisseurs by interpreting the mischievous hits of Boris Vian, ideally accompanied by the piano swing of Manuel Peskine.
Authors and singers, German patrons and faithful friends of the Deux Magots, publishers and young theater groups, everyone had a good reason tonight to raise a glass to the memory of the “Prince of Saint-Germain-des-Prés”.
