Uncle Jean, the scholar open to the world
“My grand-uncle, Jean Halpérin, whom I called Uncle, was the twin brother of my grandfather. With my cousin and my cousin, I had lunch once a week with one and the other. Their resemblance was perfect but, as a child, I did not pay care because one wore the mustache and the other not. The lunches at my uncle continued until his death, I was 27 years old. These moments were very formative for me. John was a very learned person with an intelligence that was not only in knowledge but also in life. He has always raised me, in the real sense of the word. Whatever my age, he considered me his fellow man. We were spending lunch talking about news, life, reading.
Responsible for translations to the UN, he had received the Legion of Honor, which impressed me a lot, child. He spoke ten languages, went from one to the other without any difficulty. I keep in me his opening of mind, his attention to the other and the interreligious dialogue. He read enormously and cut articles to the attention of this or that family member. Reading immediately was a sharing activity for me. Sometimes he told me that he was not morale: “The state of the world bothers me,” he said. I was too young to understand. He died in 2012, at the time of the publication of The truth about the Harry Quebert affairthat he could not read. “
Bernard de Fallois, the publisher with a theatrical plume
“Like my grand-uncle, Bernard de Fallois, whom I met in 2012, was always of a supreme elegance, carrying the tie on any occasion. Bernard was also a mentor, although differently. He developed with me a master’s relationship with a student. He was the man who built the success of The truth about the Harry Quebert affair, But beyond that, he was the man who believed in me. The beginning of our relationship was however difficult. We did not get along at all, the age gap between us, I was 27 and him 87 years old, very much complicated dialogue. He nevertheless published The last days of our fathers in January 2012.
And then, in June, he reads The truth about the Harry Quebert affairand that’s the click. He wants to publish the novel immediately. I tell myself that this gentleman is crazy, it is not possible to publish two books by the same author a few months apart … We find ourselves in Paris and I discover another man: he has rejuvenated twenty years, physical change is striking. He makes me a charm number saying to me: “I know that you don’t want me to publish The truth… But if that was the case, here is what I would do… ”He invites me to a large restaurant, champagne command, and continues to speak, inexhaustible. It was great show. At the end of the meal, he slips me: “But by the way, you did not clearly told me if you wanted to publish or not. I’m waiting for your answer for tomorrow morning! ” The next day, I said yes.
With him, I was at the show and at school. He taught me everything about edition. He told me to go to all the countries where my books were published. Polish first, but also to learn: “Ask all the publishers to understand how they do and see what they do differently and why,” he told me. Just before dying, he gave me a last magic lap. On December 31, 2017, I receive a call that announced that Bernard is dying. I go up in the first TGV to go and say goodbye to him. In front of the door of his hospital room in Paris, I am apprehensive to see him defeat, he that I had always known so master of him, so elegant. I open the door. He is not in bed but seated in an armchair, in a suit-cratate, in full discussion with the one who was going to succeed him at the head of his publishing house. I’m speechless. “But Joël, what are you doing here?” He says. I stammers that I thought about it as badly. “But not at all! I’m very busy there, but let’s see each other tomorrow. ” I’m going, relieved. I’m going to the movies. The next day, he died. Elegant, to the end. “
Constance, the inspirator who makes things possible
“Constance, my wife, accompanied me in the whole adventure with Bernard, who will only have lasted six years but who seem twenty-five so these years have been dense and decisive. She witnessed the scenes that I just described, and fortunately, because I could believe that I dreamed them. Above all, Constance has this ability to make things possible.
-When we met, I worked at The truth about the Harry Quebert affair And I struggled a lot. I had written five books at the rate of one book a year and I absolutely wanted to keep this rhythm. “But why in a year? I have never heard something so silly. A book takes the time he has to take! ”She said. One day since I told her about my problems to move forward, she posed a post-it on my desk lamp: Make it happen! – «Make things possible! ”. She is English -speaking Canadian. It remained my leitmotif throughout writing. Constance was decisive in allowing me to dare to believe in me. She has long been a sports psychologist, an area where visualization techniques are capital. “And why not?” She often replies when I share it with wishes, dreams. Yes, and why not? “
Marie-Claire Ardouin, the friend who knows all the strings
“Marie-Claire worked at Editions de Fallois when I met her in 2011. She has a huge knowledge in the publishing and manufacturing of books. From lead to the e-book, it has gone through all the transformations in the sector. We immediately heard. We have become friends. When I created the Rosie & Wolfe publishing house in Geneva, she followed me. I could not have embarked on this adventure without it. I always see her as I was Bernard. I call her president, with great tenderness. She is also my first reader. It is an immense chance to be able to count on this friend, ultra-skills, in whom I have all confidence, who tells me things, even, and especially those that I do not want to hear. ”
Philip Roth, the model novelist
“Philip Roth remains an author for whom I have an immense attachment. He embodies America that I have known, as a child, in the family of my grandfather and my grand-uncle. Their cousins had emigrated to the United States just before or during the Second World War. These Europeans who had settled in America were of the generation of Philip Roth. They lived in Washington DC and spent the summer holidays in a small house in Maine. They spoke French, German and all their friends too. I have long believed that the Americans were incredible people who spoke several languages!
In this holiday home, there was his novel The stain. I started it several times but I had abandoned, I was too young. When I started to read it really, in the twenties, I found the universe of my American family and all the imagination that I had built around, during my childhood. A universe of odds and ends where history plays a big role, with migration, languages. I am reading his biography, by Blake Bailey, who seemed in French in 2022. I have the impression that it is my last appointment with him, so I read slowly to repel the end as much as possible.
I discover a lot about him. We always have the impression of knowing a writer by reading his work when this is not at all the case. I liked Romain Gary for his books, for his life. But with Philip Roth, something intangible and mysterious happens. Even if I don’t like everything in his work. My attachment to him is almost family. “
Course
Joël Dicker is 27 years old when his life changes with the world success of The truth about the Harry Quebert affairin 2012. Besides law studies carried out without much conviction, he had written five novels, which had previously remained in his drawers. Here he is at once in the circle of best-sellers authors so as not to leave it. After the death of Bernard de Fallois, his publisher, he created in Geneva, in 2021, his own publishing house. The very catastrophic zoo visitan investigation carried out by children, published in April, caracole at the top of sales.
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