Writer and presenter Bernard Pivot has died at the age of 89 after a struggle with illness. He brought his passion for words to all of France over the decades.
19:21 – Bernard Pivot has “entered the legend”, believes Jack Lang
Jack Lang, the former Minister of Culture, posted a series of tweets honoring Bernard Pivot. “He made millions of French people read. His television programs were very popular. He devoured books. Bernard Pivot had a passion for reading and knew how to pass it on to others,” he wrote on X, Monday, May 6. “His insatiable voraciousness for words aroused in us an irresistible appetite to discover the authors he loved. Bernard Pivot brought to perfection the incomparable art of the interview, defining kindness, curiosity, liveliness and good humour, to give birth to the interviewee at his best. He became a legend. “
18:53 – When Bernard Pivot mocked the announcement of his death
He died on Monday, May 6 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and the former host of The Commas was already anticipating tributes and reactions to his death. “The habit of radio stations calling me when a writer dies is so great that the day I die, they will call me,” Bernard Pivot quipped on Twitter in 2016.
18:25 – Rachida Dati salutes the “very great book ambassador”
The announcement of the death of Bernard Pivot, who worked hard to popularize literature, prompted many tributes. Culture Minister Rachida Dati praised “the great book ambassador and activist in the field of reading for all,” and wrote on her account on the X website that his death was “a loss for the world of books and for all French people.” Minister.
17:36 – “We met him in the library,” testifies the mayor of Quincy-en-Beaujolais
Bernard Beaujolais lived a good part of the year at Quincié-en-Beaujolais. Le Progrès newspaper collected the testimony of Mayor Daniel Michaud, who expressed his sadness. He told the regional newspaper, “Everyone will feel sad. It was someone from the village. He came to do some shopping. We met him in the library. He distributed a lot of books.” “We feel sad,” adds Maryse, a volunteer at the Quincié-en-Beaujolais library. “He is someone we have seen a lot. He came to the library, always smiling and very friendly. We had a meeting today to find out what we are going to do this month. The next activity was decided.” “
17:02 – Goncourt Academy’s reaction to the death of Bernard Pivot
The Goncourt Academy published a press release to mourn the disappearance of its former president, which is undoubtedly the most symbolic in the history of Goncourt. “He devoted unstintingly smiling energy to the influence of our missions, both in France and abroad. We will remember him with tenderness, brotherhood, and affection as a learned but never pedantic being, of camaraderie, good humor, and kind spirit.” “Living were values no less important than literary excellence,” the academy wrote, praising his “steadfast commitment to serving the literary world,” as well as his “honesty and high moral character.”
16:49 – When Bernard Pivot talks about his “perfect death”
The literary journalist was making fun of him the day he died. He was a good media expert, and he knew that when the day came, the press would inevitably devote a word to him. Perhaps he did not imagine the extent to which his death would cause a wave of emotions in the country. The moment of death was also a topic that the journalist and presenter discussed regularly and lightly with his guests on the Bouillon de Culture program. Rather, it was the result of the famous Proust questionnaire that Bernard Pivot gave his interviewers at the end of each program: “If God existed, what would you like to hear him say to you after you die?” Bernard Pivot himself answered this question, imagining a God-arranged meeting with William Shakespeare.
16:28 – “Giant Bridge” by Alain Makambo
For his part, writer Alain Macambo praised the “Giant Bridge,” “one of those mediators to whom I would say that in Europe, too, an old man dying is like a burning library.”
16:27 – “He made us smart,” says Jean-Pierre Foucault
“He knew how to make us love books and writers! The joy of watching him on TV… He made us smart, and he made us accessible to him!” Host Jean-Pierre Foucault writes on X.
16:25 – “Rock Star in Reading” by Patrice Duhamel
“He was a rock star in reading and literature. His popularity went beyond reading. He didn’t just love great literature, whether classical or contemporary,” says former France Television general director Patrice Duhamel on BFMTV.
16:20 – “Old Regrets, Be a Very Close Friend”, Tribute to Regis Debray
In the columns of Le Figaro, the philosopher and writer Régis Debray, who had once fallen out with Bernard Pivot, did not hesitate to praise him ardently. The two men were. “An old regret, of becoming a very close friend. To have him, one day, after a TV show in Quebec, the microphone remain on without my knowledge, decorated, with a drink in his nose, with names like birds (monopolist, dictator, Christian strangler, etc.) Without even remembering it the next morning, a reputation came to my mind: the bitter resentment of a little bastard at a professional who attacks the smiling apostle of literature, abandoning the “cultural” period of the Elysée to embrace the “Third World” as he trusts.
16:17 – For Valérie Heyer, “Bernard Pivot will have left his mark on French culture”
“Books collected and pressed against each other have stability and perseverance.” “For someone who transmitted a love of words and literature (and dictation!) to so many French people, Bernard Pivot will serve as a marker of French culture for those close to him,” Valérie Heyer, head of Macronie’s list of Europeans, wrote on X.
16:16 – “The academy was kind of like his property, it was his family,” says Pascal Bruckner
“It’s a great sadness. He was feeling bad, but we didn’t know exactly how serious this disease was. And so Pivot came to see us a year and a half ago for lunch, and he didn’t have much of an appetite, which was a bad sign. He was thin. But the academy was like… To some extent, it was his own thing. It was his family and he wanted to make sure that the people got along well, that the literary choices were good, that there was an understanding between us. He had his place and we were hoping to invite him back this year before the summer. It’s surprising. I never thought he would leave so quickly…” Pascal Bruckner, philosopher and academic Goncourt, told BFMTV.
16:12 – Yael Brown-Bivett salutes “Lover of the Word”
“From the Bouillon de Culture to the apostrophes via the Académie Goncourt, Bernard Pivot was a lover of the word. A journalist and writer, he devoted his life to literature with a sense of humor and spontaneity. The king of ‘reading’ has passed away. My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones,” wrote the president of the National Assembly, Yael Brown-Bivett, on Monday. , in honor of the former director of the Goncourt Academy.
16:08 – What disease did Bernard Pivot suffer from?
Writer and presenter Bernard Pivot, who disappeared on Monday, May 6, has died “after months of fighting cancer,” his daughter, Cécile Pivot, told AFP, Le Parisien reported. “As a former journalist, I would like to die at home, in my chair, reading L’Equipe or Le Journal du Dimanche. Or, better, in my bed, rereading Montaigne or Proust. But I never read in bed,” he said. In JDD, almost a year ago to the day.
15:58 – He reluctantly leaves the presidency of the Goncourt Academy
With this interview with JDD in April 2023, Bernard Pivot has in some ways come out of media retirement. “I left Goncourt in December 2019, and my health problems started right after that, in January 2020,” he explained. He had to relinquish his role as member and president of the Goncourt Academy reluctantly. He also expressed his regret regarding the case of Gabriel Matznev, after accusations of leniency.
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Bernard Pivot no longer exists. On Monday, May 6, 2024, his family announced his death after a struggle with illness. The former broadcaster and writer has died at the age of 89 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Creator of the program “Apostrophe” on Antenna 2, he made millions of French people love books. A former journalist and president of the Goncourt Academy, he also presented the program “Bouillon d’Culture” and, since 1985, has organized the Dicos d’or spelling bee tournament that has become international.
This lover of the French language was born on May 5, 1935 in Lyon, and studied law first in the Gallic capital, then journalism in Paris. He graduated from the Center for the Training of Journalists (CFJ) in 1957, joined the literary newspaper Le Figaro in 1958, and then became head of the literary department of Le Figaro. He began working on television in 1973 by hosting the literary magazine “Ouvrez les guillemets”. Since then, “Apostrophe”, “Bouillon de Culture”… We can no longer count the successes in which Bernard Pivot took part. It particularly received great writers such as Marguerite Duras as well as musicians and actors. Brassens and Ferré have been featured on her sets. Bernard Pivot was a major player in the rich days of French television. He also headed the Goncourt Academy from 2004 to 2019.
Bernard Pivot also wrote many works about his passion, literature and lyrics, as well as football and wine. “But Life Goes On,” his last work published in 2021, which feels like an autobiography, spoke specifically about aging. His glasses mounted on the tip of his nose made him a must-see on the small screen.
In recent years, he has been very active on Twitter, as if he wanted to extend his life dedicated to words. He shared his mood with over a million subscribers. In an interview with JDD in April 2023, he indicated the reasons that prompted him to withdraw from the Goncourt Academy and the media: “I remained silent because evil struck me in the head and the seat of my mind and speech. It is better to remain so.” Silent while waiting for memory to recharge and ideas to flourish again. Distinctive appreciation of personality. In 1992, he declined the Legion of Honour.
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