The world of publishing and literature is very cruel. If we are to believe the statements of Cécile, the daughter of Bernard Pivot, this Tuesday, November 12, 2024, the host did not receive the recognition he deserved from these professionals.
Questioned by Valérie Expert and Gilles Ganzmann on Sud Radio Médias, Cécile Pivot explained that few of them went to the funeral of the man ofApostrophes et Culture broth.
Bernard Pivot abandoned by his friends
Bernard Pivot’s daughter says: “With my sister, we had put in the death announcement that a tribute would be paid to her, so we’re going to say that that’s why they didn’t come to Quincié-en-Beaujolais, so we’re going to excuse them“.
And to add however: “But it’s not very serious, my father had a funeral in his image. There were a lot of people there though and there were people from Beaujolais, and personalities from all walks of life that he loved. And then, he wasn’t fooled at all…“
Indeed, already a moment before his death, Bernard Pivot had noticed that he was no longer in the minds of publishers and writers. They had stopped sending him books by the time he ended his column in Sunday Newspaper. A decision which is undoubtedly more inelegant than a desire to save money….
Bernard Pivot had decided to retire, at age 86, in 2022. He had delivered his literary criticism to the weekly since 1992. He poetically assured: “I like the JDD because it is a newspaper that is read on Sunday. Day of rest, day which escapes the haste and stress of the week, day where we take the time to be interested in what is happening in the world, in France, in Paris and in the minds of our compatriots , a day when we can return several times to reading the newspaper as we return to a conversation, a puzzle or a strong alcohol“.
A moving ceremony
Nothing to spoil the ceremony organized by the family of Bernard Pivot, to say goodbye to him. In May 2024, Cécile Pivot remembers: “He hadn’t planned everything, but two or three things, he wanted Rachmaninoff music and a prayerwhich my companion read in the cemetery”.
And to conclude: “the rest we were free to do what we wanted and we did it in his image I think“.
