Imprint's Gallimard

Founded : 1959
Number of titles published : 296
Number of authors published : 121
Sales to date : 1,6 million copies
Best seller : Pascal Lainé. La Dentellière (1974) : 290 000 copies

"The first time I entered Georges Lambrichs' office (one of those rooms that looks like a maid's room, and is familiar to visitors of the rue Sébastien-Bottin) I was happy, yet intimidated like so many others. I remember asking him why his imprint was called 'Le Chemin'. I hadn't expected his simple, laconic reply : 'because the road carries on'."
(Gérard Macé, "Le Chemin continue", La Nrf, June 1992)

"Le Chemin" is a collection of creative French literature and criticism, which was directed by Georges Lambrichs (1917-1992) from 1959 to 1992. It contributed to enriching the Gallimard backlist in a unique way, gathering under its imprint works that proved seminal to a whole generation of readers – from the Procès-verbal by J.M.G. Le Clézio to Papiers collés by G. Perros…To this day, these works remain landmarks of creative French literature of past decades. If, as Nourissier says, one can speak of a "qualité chemin", it is thanks to the extraordinary vitality of a generation of writers and critics, most of whom were born in the 1930s, as well as the insatiable curiosity of a remarkable editor: "Lambrichs' only passion was for the kind of writing that had never yet been seen, read, or printed." (D. Aury)

THE FIRST TITLE
Jacques Serguine. Les Fils de rois (1959)


>	All imprint's titles

IN BRIEF
In 1967, Georges Lambrichs founded the literary journal, Cahiers du Chemin, which he ran until 1977 when he took over the directorship of The NRF.

After 1992, many "Le Chemin" authors continued their journey with other imprints : "La Blanche" of course, but also "Les Essais" (Bourgeade, Schuhl), "L'Un et l'autre" (Bobin, Raczymow…) and "Le Cabinet des Lettrés" (Macé, Quinsat).

Several authors of the imprint took part in the editorial life at Gallimard : Jacques Réda, who took over running La NRF from Lambrichs, and Jean-Marie Laclavetine. Both now sit on the Reading Committee…

During the traditional "Le Chemin" lunches, often sharing a plate of pasta, one could meet Jacques Réda, Ludovic Janvier, Michel chaillou, Jean Roudaut, Jude Stéfan, Michel Deguy, Gérard Macé, Jean-Loup Trassard, Michel Butor, Jacques Borel…

As early as February 1959, the editor exchanged letters with Jean Starobinski regarding L'Oeil vivant (1961), despite the latter being still under contract with Plon – and with Michel Foucault, whose essay on Raymond Roussel Lambrichs published in 1963.

Very few "Le Chemin" works were prefaced. However, Eden, Eden, Eden by Pierre Guyotat (1970) was published with three prefaces written by Michel Leiris, Roland Barthes and Philippe Sollers!

A SHORT HISTORY
  "You can't predict Beckett. You don't order the appearance of Le Clézio. One day, their manuscripts just land on your desk. You're moved. That's your job, your only merit." That is how Lambrichs used to sum up the editorial journey that led him to Gallimard in 1959, after starting out in Belgium, followed by twelve years with Editions de Minuit and a brief time with Grasset.
  Although "Le Chemin" was quick to welcome authors already published by Nouvelle Revue Française (Pieyre de Mandiargues, Jouffroy, Trassard…) or by other publishers (Butor, Starobinski, Foucault, Guyotat…) its real calling was the publishing of the first books of French critics and writers : Serguine, Deguy, Perros, Beaussant, Roudaut, Bourgeade, Macé, Stéfan, Meschonnic… and later Laclavetine, Fournel, Raczymow, Cahuzac, etc… The imprint offered a potential rallying point to which led many paths, rather than a few well-beaten tracks. Indeed, remembers Michel Chaillou : "we were referred to as being from "Le Chemin", the name of the imprint."
  1963 was a linchpin year. Lambrichs had received a letter from an unknown, 22 year old man, ahead of a manuscript : "Some people have told me that your imprint is exclusively devoted to the "New Novel". Does that mean only students of the "New Novel" theory led by M. Robbe-Grillet ? " To which Lambrichs replied : "I would be happy to read your novel straight away. As for the imprint "Le Chemin", the autonomy of each published title proves that it is the preserve of neither master nor pawn." One could not be any clearer. The young writer was J.M.G. Le Clézio, whose Procès-verbal, the first of 13 novels he entrusted to Lambrichs, was an instant success. The imprint had been "officially launched". Its credibility and fame increased in pace with the growing assurance of some authors and the launching of other young writers.

POETS IN "LE CHEMIN"
Michel Butor — Claude-Michel Cluny — Benoît Conort — Michel Deguy — Alain Duault — Jean-Pierre Faye — Pierre Lepère — Gérard Macé — Henri Meschonnic — Georges Perros — Jacques Réda — Patrick Reumaux — Jean Ristat — Dominique Rouche — Paul de Roux — Jean-Philippe Salabreuil — Jude Stéfan

"LE CHEMIN" REPRINTED IN paperback editions
22 Folio : Jacques Almira. Le Voyage à Naucratis — Philippe Beaussant. Le Biographe ; L'Archéologue — Christian Bobin. La Part manquante ; La Femme à venir ; Une petite robe de fête — Pierre Bourgeade. Les Immortelles ; Les Serpents — Michel Chaillou. Jonathamour — Paul Fournel. Les Petites Filles respirent le même air que nous — Alain Jouffroy. Un rêve plus long que la nuit — Pascal Lainé. La Dentellière — J.M.G. Le Clézio. Le Procès-verbal ; Désert ; La Ronde ; Voyage à Rodrigues ; Printemps et autres saisons — Gérard Macé. Le Dernier des Égyptiens — Jacques Réda. L'Herbe des talus — Nathalie Sarraute. Vous les entendez ? — Jean-Noël Schifano. Chroniques napolitaines — Jacques Serguine. Éloge de la fessée
3 Folio Essais : Michel Foucault. Raymond Roussel — J.M.G. Le Clézio. L'Extase matérielle — Jacques Réda. L'Improviste (une lecture du jazz)
19 L'Imaginaire : Philippe Beaussant. L'Archéologue — Jacques Borel. L'Adoration — Michel Chaillou. Le Sentiment géographique — Pierre Guyotat. Tombeaux pour cinq cent mille soldats ; Éden, Éden, Éden — Pierre Klossowski. Les Lois de l'hospitalité — J.M.G. Le Clézio. La Fièvre ; Le Livre des fuites ; La Guerre ; Les Géants ; Voyages de l'autre côté ; L'Inconnu sur la terre — Georges Perros. Papiers collés, I, II et III — André Pieyre de Mandiargues. Porte dévergondée ; Sous la lame — Jean Tardieu. On vient chercher Monsieur Jean — Jean-Loup Trassard. Paroles de laine
8 Poésie / Gallimard : Michel Deguy. Ouï dire (Poèmes I, 1960-1970) ; Poèmes II (1970-1980) — Gérard Macé. Bois dormant — Georges Perros. Une vie ordinaire — Jacques Réda. Les Ruines de Paris ; Amen, Récitatif, La Tourne ; Hors les murs — Jude Stéfan. À la vieille Parque précédé de Libères
3 Tel : Michel Deguy. La Machine matrimoniale ou Marivaux — Jean Starobinski. L'Œil vivant ; La Relation critique

AWARDS AND PRIZES
Prix Goncourt : L'Adoration by Jacques Borel (1965), La Dentellière by Pascal Lainé (1974)
Prix Renaudot : Le Procès-verbal by Le Clézio (1963)
Prix Médicis : Le Voyage à Naucratis by Jacques Almira (1975), L'Irrévolution by Pascal Lainé (1977)
Prix Femina-Vacaresco : Ex libris by Gérard Macé (1980)
Grand Prix littéraire de la Ville de Paris : Hors les murs by Jacques Réda (1983)
Prix Leduc de l'Académie française : La Dentellière by Pascal Lainé (1974)
Prix Mottard de l'Académie française : Les Serpents by Pierre Bourgeade (1983)
Prix des Critiques : L'Ancolie by Jean-Loup Trassard (1975), L'Herbe des talus by Jacques Réda (1984)
Prix Félix-Fénéon : Fragment du cadastre by Michel Deguy (1961), Le Bénéfice du doute by Claude Fessaguet (1966), La Saisie by Henri Raczymow (1975), L'Éclipse by Gilles Quinsat (1986), Les Emmurés by Jean-Marie Laclavetine (1981), Pour une île à venir by Benoît Conort (1988), Parole de singe by Patrick Cahuzac (1990)
Prix Max-Jacob : Poèmes de la presqu'île by Michel Deguy (1962), Amen by Jacques Réda (1969), Dédicaces proverbes by Henri Meschonnic (1972)
Prix François-Coppée : Hors les murs by Jacques Réda (1983)
Prix Valéry-Larbaud : Hors les murs by Jacques Réda (1983), Donnafugata by Jean-Marie Laclavetine (1988)
Prix de l'Académie Mallarmé : Les Gisants by Michel Deguy (1985)
Prix littéraire de la vocation : Loin d'Aswerda by Jean-Marie Laclavetine (1983)
Prix Max Barthou : Une ville grise by Pierre Bourgeade (1979), Loin d'Aswerda by Jean-Marie Laclavetine (1983)

MARKETING INFORMATION
Sizes : 105 x 185 - 118 x 185 - 140 x 205 mm.
Number of titles available : 214
Number of titles reprinted per year : 4
Top 10 best sellers :
Pascal Lainé. La Dentellière (1974)
J.M.G. Le Clézio. Désert (1980)
Jacques Borel. L'Adoration (1965)
J.M.G. Le Clézio. Le Procès-verbal (1963)
J.M.G. Le Clézio. Printemps et autres saisons (1989)
Christian Bobin. La Part manquante (1989)
Pascal Lainé. L'Irrévolution (1971)
Christian Bobin. Une petite robe de fête (1991)
J.M.G. Le Clézio. La Ronde et autres faits divers (1982)
Christian Bobin. La Femme à venir (1990)