Antoine Blondin: Monsieur jadis ou l'école du soir (1970)

Antoine Blondin was not part of a school, although he is generally associated with the Hussard writers, right-wing and anti-Sartre. Regarding Blondin's politics, though, he said in a conversation with Serge Gainsbourg in a bar (available on YouTube) that the right considered him left, but the left thought him right. It was Bernard Franck who gave them this title, and the other three Hussards are Roger Nimier (who 'provided' the name with his novel Le Hussard bleu), Jacques Laurent and Michel Déon.

For many years, Blondin was a very well-known character around Saint-Germain-des-Prés, mainly for his relentless drinking, and for his resulting antics, such as playing at 'bull-fighting' with oncoming cars. He was also well-known to the police, who arrested him on a number of occasions, and as well as novels also wrote for L'Équipe sports paper.

Monsieur jadis ou l'école du soir is a kind of autobiography. I say 'kind of' because it's all over the place, it's an opportunity for Blondin to give a fine display of his verbal pyrotechnics. It's difficult to describe because the novel has no plot, being the memories of a fiftysomething's behaviour years ago, including the disagreements with his wife, but mainly the many bars he went to (particularly the ever-open Bar-Bac (also known as 'chez Blanche') on rue du Bac. Roger Nimier also features strongly in the novel, as in the episode when he agrees to help Blondin out financially when he can't pay his taxi fare. Other writers who make an appearance are Albert Vidalie (of whom the eldest daughter was Blondin's god-daughter) and Giulio Cesare Silvagni. A crazy but brilliant man, and a fascinating book.

My Antoine Blondin posts:
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Antoine Blondin and Pierre Assouline: Le Flâneur de la rive gauche
Antoine Blondin: Monsieur jadis ou l'école du soir
Antoine Blondin: Les enfants du bon Dieu