Michel Butor

Writing

Michel Butor

Born — Died

1926-09-14 — 2016-08-24

Place of birth

Mons-en-Barœul, Nord, France

Known for

Writing

Credits

5 titles

Michel Butor (14 September 1926 – 24 August 2016) was a French poet, novelist, teacher, essayist, art critic and translator. Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul, a suburb of Lille, the third of seven children. His parents were Émile Butor (1891–1960), a railroad inspector and Anna (née Brajeux, 1896–1972). He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1947. He taught in Egypt, Manchester, Thessaloniki, the United States, and Geneva. He won many literary awards for his work, including the Prix Fénéon and the Prix Renaudot. Journalists and critics have associated his novels with the nouveau roman, but Butor himself long resisted that association. The main point of s…

Known for

Apostrophes poster
8.5

Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.

Apostrophes

1975

30 millions d'amis poster
6.2

No synopsis available yet.

30 millions d'amis

1976

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers poster
8.0

This documentary series uses drama and commentary to shed light on the lives and works of Joseph Conrad, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, T. S. Eliot, Henrik Ibsen, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Luigi Pirandello, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers

1988

Balkan Baroque poster
6.4

Balkan Baroque is a real and imaginary biography of the Yugoslavian performance artist Marina Abramovic. Rather than a mechanical reproduction of the artist's work, the film tries to create a new reality by translating the performances into cinematographic images that intensify the fictional context of the film. Abramovic plays herself, but ,appearing in multiple forms, blurs her own identity. Memories and fantasies intermingle with day to day rituals. The chronological narrative often breaks to reflect the interior voyage of the protagonist from the present to the past and back to the present. The result is a visually impressive film. Balkan Baroque had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, 1999.

Balkan Baroque

1999

Anatomy of Los Angeles poster
NR

This documentary explores the complexities of Los Angeles. Blending a highly structured montage of shots exploring the city with interviews of students, the writer Henry Miller, and residents from all communities, this evocation of Angelenos' city paints a portrait of a living, constantly evolving entity.

Anatomy of Los Angeles

1969

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera