Montmartre, fourth and last floor of a small Parisian building. François-Henri Désérable arranges a box full of copies of his latest book, The wear of a world, published in May by Gallimard. In the living room, each object seems to be in its place: along a well-ordered bookcase mingle a long hockey stick, a souvenir of his years as a professional hockey player, an old revolver from the 19e century, model identical to that used by Verlaine against Rimbaud, and portraits of some literary and tutelary figures.
Among them, two photos of the Swiss writer Nicolas Bouvier in his early years. Account of a forty-day stay in Iran at the end of 2022, The wear of a world is a tribute both to the author of The use of the world and to the women who remove their veils today despite the oppression of the mullahs.
“Nicolas Bouvier is an essential presence in my life”, blows the 36-year-old writer. As proof, an entire shelf is reserved for the Geneva author. At his side, works by Pierre Michon, Paul Verlaine or Jean Echenoz. Novels, poetry but, surprisingly, few travelogues. “If it’s reading, at 18, Beauty of the Lord, of Albert Cohen, which made me want to write, is that of The use of the world a few years ago which gave me a furious desire to leave, to put on the soles of the wind. »
Telling the world from home
Between sips of tea, François-Henri Désérable recites from memory, almost religiously, the second page of the book: “It is the silent contemplation of atlases, flat on the carpet, between 10 and 13 years old, which makes you want to plant everything there…” Bouvier’s prose is his breviary. ” The use of the world had become my bible. The Gospel of the Road according to Saint Nicholas, he writes in The wear of a world.
Many writers refer to the Swiss author, twenty-five years after his death. Adored by his readers who constantly offer his books but little known to the general public, Nicolas Bouvier (1929-1998) remains an author both confidential and recognized. Translated into more than fifteen languages, his first book, The use of the world, published in 1963 (Librairie Droz), is the story of a journey of a year and a half made at the age of 24 in a Fiat Topolino with his painter friend Thierry Vernet, between Geneva and the Khyber pass, in horse between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Self-published almost ten years after his return, his book has established itself over time as a must in travel literature.
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