Michel Butor, French writer, Died at 89

  Writer

Michel Butor was born September 14, 1926, and died on August 24, 2016.

He was a French writer.

Michel studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1947.

Michel Butor has taught in Egypt, Manchester, Salonika, the United States, and Geneva.

Butor has won many literary awards for his work, including the Prix Apollo, the Prix Fénéon; and the Prix Renaudot.

Many Journalists and critics have compared his novels with the nouveau roman, but Butor himself has long resisted that association.

The main point of similarity is a very general one, not much beyond that; like exponents of the nouveau roman, he can be described as an experimental writer.

Michel Butor best-known novel was La Modification, for instance, is written entirely in the second person.

In 1967, he wrote La critique et l’invention, Butor famously said that even the most literal quotation is already a kind of parody because of its “trans-contextualization.”

He was a close friend and colleague of Elinor Miller, a French professor at Embry Riddle University. Butor and Miller worked collaboratively on translations and lectures.

During 2002, Miller published a book on Butor entitled Prisms and Rainbows: Michel Butor’s Collaborations with Jacques Monory, Jiri Kolar, and Pierre Alechinsky.

Michel Butor passed away at 89 years old.