Julien Gracq

"A French writer and essayist born in 1910, Gracq is one of those little-known writers whom no one dares to criticize or attack, as if protected by a kind of archangelic armor, before whom the first reaction of the public and critics is to 'uncover themselves,' as at the passing of a funeral procession. For him, there is no reason for frozen and gray literature: the writer, following Céline's terrible advice, must remain silent 'when he no longer has enough music within himself to make life dance'," writes Ernesto Sampaio in the introduction to "Literature in the Stomach."