How could Ramon Fernandez, a brilliant literary critic of the interwar period, have joined the PPF, a fascist and collaborationist party? His son attempts to answer this painful question in his latest book, “Ramon.” Through the story of his father’s life, the Academician tries to comprehend his enigmatic choice, never managing to explain it. By retracing his father’s life, Dominique Fernandez brings us back to the pre-war France and then to the dark years of the Occupation. This novelistic account, set in a particularly tormented period of our country, constitutes a poignant and enlightening testimony on the pain of the sons and daughters of those who made “the wrong choice.”
Dominique Fernandez holds a Doctorate in Letters. He has been, successively, a professor of Italian at the University of Upper Brittany, a writer, and an author of articles for “la Quinzaine littéraire,” “l’Express,” and “le Nouvel Observateur.” He is the inventor of “psychobiography.” A seasoned traveler and specialist in Baroque art and Italian culture, he has brought back numerous accounts illustrated by photographer Ferrante Ferranti.
He has published many novels: “The Bark of Stones,” “The Dawn,” “The Children of Gogol,” “Porporino or the Mysteries of Naples” (Médicis Prize), “In the Hand of the Angel” (Goncourt Prize), “The Abduction of Ganymede” (Mediterranean Prize), “The Last of the Medici,” “Jeremiah! Jeremiah!” (Following the trail of Alexandre Dumas), “The Art of Storytelling,” “Red Square,” etc.
The conference will be followed by a book signing session.
