Paul Leautaud Books

Léautaud belongs to a family of writers who prefer to write diaries than novels. Because in a diary you will always find more stories, more life, more humanity than in any novel: the density of information is so much greater. If the purpose of a book is to provide excitement and pleasure try Leautaud. Paul Léautaud's Journal Littéraire is funny, witty, mean, tender, old fashion and very modern at the same time. It could last for several more thousands of pages, it is never boring and you are very sad when you reach the end : it feels like you are losing your best friend: you have seen him getting older and older and still he retains his unmistakable wit and humor. What makes him modern is his naturalness. He speaks his mind with an unbelievable freedom. There is no comparison with great memorialists of his time, like André Gide or Maurice Martin du Gard. They write like the very guarded bourgeois that they are. Léautaud is not playing the role of a writer: he is himself. He cannot separate the man from the writer, that's why he is so human, so genuine and so interesting. He doesn't disguise himself: he speaks his mind. Fortunately he has the talent of saying things with a unique tone: this is what differentiates him from lesser writers. He doesn't care about the way he looks or sounds. Freedom is more important to him than anything else. He has a style which is his, 100%. He is simple, writes extremely short sentences. He has a tone that you recognize immediately. He is a misanthrope and he lives surrounded by dozens of cats and dogs. He will make you laugh and make you cry. If you are interested in the french litterary life of the first half of the 20th century, Léautaud is a goldmine. He was living amongst writers, humble and famous. He hated boring writers and boring litterature: fresh, natural, original; this is what he liked. As someone said he is the ultimate writer for writers. And yet I introduced some of his books to friends not at all versed in autobiography and they really enjoyed him.