Hervé Guibert

Hervé Guibert 14 December 1955 27 December 1991 was a French writer and photographer The author of numerous novels and autobiographical studies he played a considerable role in changing French public attitudes to HIVAIDS He was a close friend of Michel Foucault Guibert was born in SaintCloud HautsdeSeine to a middleclass family and spent his early years in Paris moving to La Rochelle from 1970 to 1973 After working as a filmmaker and actor he turned to photography and journalism In 1978 he successfully applied for a job at Frances evening paper Le Monde and published his second book Les Aventures singulières published by Éditions de Minuit In 1984 Guibert shared a César Award for best screenplay with Patrice Chéreau for Lhomme blessé Guibert had met Chéreau in the 1970s during his theatrical years He won a scholarship between 1987 and 1989 at Villa Medicis in Rome with his friend writer Mathieu Lindon He described these years in LIncognito published in 1989 Guiberts writing style was inspired by the French writer Jean Genet and later by the work of Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard Three of his lovers occupied an important place in his life and work Thierry Jouno director of the International Visual Theatre for the deaf in Paris whom he met in 1976 Michel Foucault whom he met in 1977 and Vincent Marmousez a teenager of fifteen who inspired his novel Fou de Vincent published in English as Crazy for Vincent For a time in the 1980s Guibert was a reader at the institute for young blind in Paris Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles which led to his novel Des aveugles published in English as Blindsight In January 1988 Guibert was diagnosed with AIDS From then on he worked at recording what was left of his life In June the following year he married Christine the partner of Thierry Jouno so that his royalty income would eventually pass to her and her two children In 1990 Guibert publicly revealed his HIV status in his roman à clef À lami qui ne ma pas sauvé la vie published in English as To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Nina Bouraoui in The Guardian described the book thus In this book he tells the story of his illness AIDS in the late 1980s He tells of how life with the virus became an existential adventure how it affected a generation how it stole his friends and lovers and how writing was for him a bulwark against death and destruction Its the story of an era a turning point when AIDS transformed our relationship with desire and sexuality forever Upon publication Guibert immediately found himself the focus of media attention featured in newspapers and appearing on several television talk shows Source Article Hervé Guibert from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30