Before his death, in October 2022, our collaborator Patrick Kéchichian left us this biographical portrait of Jacques Réda.
The poet Jacques Réda died on September 30, at the age of 95, confirmed to World Gallimard Editions. One of his last books – exchanges written with Alexandre Prieux – had this remarkably explicit title: Interviews with Mr. Texte (ed. Fario, 2020). This reference to Mr. Teste, an absolute antihero invented by Paul Valéry, “strange brain where philosophy has little credit, where language is always accused”It is not a simple play on words. With a supporting textual slip, it is radiantly relevant. Faithful to this elevated and invisible figure, Jacques Réda, over 90 years old, speaks, among erudite considerations on prosody, writing and language, of immaturity, of his immaturity that, according to him, complicated “the progress of [son] existence “. Referring to Rimbaud, this time he raises the idea that this ” chaos ” This “perhaps the natural situation of poets”. From the acute awareness of this disorder, at the same time as this struggle to alleviate the chaos, Jacques Réda, in a diverse and abundant work – more than one hundred titles – will do his good. And that of its readers.
Born on January 24, 1929 in Lunéville, Lorraine, into a family of Piedmontese and Burgundian descent, Jacques Réda took part of his classes with the Jesuits. After his military service and the beginning of his law studies, he moved to Paris in 1953 and worked in various professions. His first publications, the first in Cahiers del Sud and with small publishers, date from this time, but he will not preserve these learning pages in the different reissues of his work.
It was also the time in which, after the local or military fanfares, and the plainchant heard in his religious school, he discovered jazz, “the only music made for [son] heart and [ses] nerves »that will have a central importance in your life. From 1963 he became a regular contributor to the monthly newspaper Jazz Magazine. At the end of his career in this field, and after several volumes dedicated to this music – in particular The improvised one. A jazz reading (Gallimard, 1990 and Folio, expanded edition, 2010) – published The song of possibility. write jazz (ed. Fario, 2021). It’s hard not to mention the title of one of the chapters: “A legion of hips”! Throughout his life, Réda will remain faithful to this “pleasure of movement”.
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