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Julien Boissel
Published on
Oct. 7 2024 at 6:14 am
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It’s a return to basics for Catherine Charrier. The author returns to Alençon (Orne) as part of the Livres & Davant festival scheduled from October 7 to 13, 2024. She will present her novel Red Collarpublished by Calmann Lévy, published in February 2024.
Col Rouge: a “family saga”
With her fourth book, Col Rouge, Catherine Charrier traces the history of the Union of auction house commissionaires. “The work is written a bit like a family saga. He looks back on the 150 years of existence, between 1860 and 2009, of this brotherhood of 110 people. »
This brotherhood of men, all Savoyards of origin, managed the logistics of the Hôtel Drouot until 2009, when a painting by Gustave Courbet was found in the home of one of them. “The basis of the story is very fictionalized but there is an element of autobiography since members of my in-laws were red-collar workers for three generations. »
The title of the novel refers to the outfit worn by the members of this brotherhood which featured a red collar on a black jacket.
Pen or pub? Both !
Born in the Ornaise prefecture in the 1960s, Catherine Charrier left for Paris after obtaining her Baccalaureate from the Lycée Alain. “I was attracted to Paris. Today it seems almost an anomaly, but I really wanted to discover this city and I went there to do a prep class. I ended up in the 5th arrondissement. »
From 1979 to 1981, the native of Alençon flourished in her student life.
I loved Paris in the early 80s, and my classes. I studied a whole range of disciplines: history, geography, philosophy, mathematics… I had a huge appetite.
She entered the advertising sector three years later and never left again. “It’s made for me because it combines creativity with rationality,” believes the writer.
“Advertisers are rarely viewed favorably even though it is a profession that touches people’s lives, their daily lives, and where there are talents, particularly in writing. »
Advertising is a good school of language because you have to be concise and make sense. We look at the words with precision.
Seven years of work
But alongside advertising, Catherine Charrier was also interested in literary writing. “We are sometimes the opposite of advertising writing,” explains the writer.
“When you write a novel, you must not only have the idea but also bring a story and characters into existence intensely. It is no longer a question of being brief but of projecting the reader into a coherent and dense story. »
Catherine Charrier is today at her fourth book. It took seven years to write this work. According to the Alençonnaise, novelistic writing “allows nuance in a world which erases it more and more”.
Today, Catherine Charrier pursues her two passions brilliantly since, in addition to being on her fourth piece of writing, she is one of the leaders of BETC, a advertising agency whose headquarters are located in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis), a commune bordering Paris.
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