French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. de Lacretelle, Tout un monde. Jacques de Lacretelle et ses amis
Writers: Biography, Letters and Memoirs
Tout un monde. Jacques de Lacretelle et ses amis
Anne de Lacretelle
ed. de Fallois
Published: 06/02/2019
320 p. — EAN: 9791032102138 — With 50 illustrations
Jacques de Lacretelle was one of the leading figures in literary life since the 1920s. He won the Prix Femina in 1922 for Silbermann and the Grand Prix du Roman from the Académie française for Amour nuptial. Later, he played a major role in the revival of Le Figaro.
He was intimately acquainted with the high society of Parisian arts and letters during decades that were among the most brilliant in our literary history. To call those years the "Trente Glorieuses" of twentieth-century French literature is hardly an exaggeration.
These are the years brought back to life in Anne de Lacretelle's memoirs. Vivid anecdotes, portraits, confidences, excerpts from correspondence, and first-hand accounts infuse the narrative with the vibrant colors of life.
We first encounter, around Marcel Proust who had recently achieved renown (winning the Prix Goncourt in 1919), the young writers who made him their master before forming a dazzling constellation of their own: Paul Morand, Jean Cocteau, François Mauriac, and Jacques de Lacretelle; the narrative extends right up to the present day. Moving, lighthearted, and tinged with nostalgia, this book successfully captures the spirit of the times.
A world that can still inspire dreams.
Alongside a professional career in communications, Anne de Lacretelle has dedicated herself to the preservation of artistic heritage. She is the founding president of the Prix Sévigné, dedicated to rewarding the publication of epistolary works.
Video of an interview with the author…
Visit the publisher's website…
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P. Assouline dedicated a post to this book on his blog larepubliquedeslivres.com:
What remains of the world of yesterday…
"Who as a reader has not encountered this specific case: a good book about a detestable person. How delightful the former must be not to dissuade us from delving further into discovering the latter! I knew nothing of Anne de Lacretelle, despite the biography she devoted to the Countess of Albany, a European muse (Éditions du Rocher, 2008). What then made me rush out to get her Tout un monde. Jacques de Lacretelle et ses amis (330 pages, 22 euros, Éditions de Fallois)? Perhaps the impression left by leafing through the very first pages. Admittedly, past eight o'clock in the evening, new releases dedicated to 'Abbé Géhel, my director of the unconscious' are not exactly flooding the bookstores. Right from the incipit, she wonders: 'Can one write about one's parents?'. Her response, spanning just over three hundred pages, is brilliant, lively, and witty. It has been a long time since I read a memoir with such masterful writing, structure, and stylistic effect. Since this was not a biography of dear old dad, there was good reason for hope. The brilliant idea was to let an era emerge through snapshots captured from a family album—and what an album! The family's friends take center stage: Proust, Gide, Cocteau, Morand, Mauriac, Valéry, Giraudoux, Larbaud… A tiny world on the fringes of a microcosm as 'décaduc' [obsolete], as Proust himself put it in one of his trademark neologisms—and let's be honest, not all of them were aristocrats by any means. From his frequent encounters with the author of À la recherche and their long correspondence, Lacretelle retained a certain mark throughout his life, 'a Proustian snobbery' in that all his references, allusions, and manners connected in one way or another to the past and to history. […]
This volume belongs to the rich tradition of French literary memoirs and biographical portraits, offering an intimate window into the Parisian cultural scene of the twentieth century. Edited by Anne de Lacretelle, the work captures an era when literature and high society intertwined closely, anchored by towering figures such as Marcel Proust, André Gide, and Jean Cocteau. Through correspondence, anecdotes, and reflections, the book situates its subjects within the dynamic intellectual currents that shaped modern French letters, bridging the interwar period and later decades of literary life.
Readers interested in literary history, biography, and the sociology of French artistic circles will find this work an engaging and revealing resource. It helps illuminate the complex personal and professional networks behind some of the century's most enduring texts, offering valuable context for students and enthusiasts of twentieth-century French literature. The book is particularly useful for those seeking to understand the legacy of figures associated with the Académie française, the Prix Goncourt, and the vibrant publishing world of mid-century Paris.