Dominique Lapierre
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Dominique Lapierre (1931 – 2022) was a French author known for such works as Is Paris Burning? (1965).
Contents |
Collaboration with Larry Collins
On his return to Paris after his honeymoon, he was conscripted into the French army. After one year in the tank regiment, he was transferred to the SHAPE headquarters to serve as an interpreter. One day in the cafeteria he met a young American corporal, Larry Collins, a Yale graduate and draftee. They became friends instantly. When Collins was discharged he was offered a job with Procter & Gamble. Two days before reporting to the new job, the United Press offered him a job as caption writer at their Paris office, for much less money than offered by Procter & Gamble. Collins took the offer from United Press and was soon picked up by Newsweek to be their correspondent in the Middle East. When Lapierre was discharged, he found work as a reporter for the magazine Paris Match. Collins became the godfather of the Lapierres' first child, Alexandra. On several occasions, Collins and Lapierre met while on assignment. In spite of their friendship they had to compete with each other for stories. But they decided to join forces to tell a big story which would appeal to both French and anglophone audiences. Their first bestseller Is Paris Burning? sold close to ten million copies in thirty languages. In this book they mixed the modern technique of investigation journalism with the classical methods of historical research.
After that they spent four years in Jerusalem to reconstruct the birth of the State of Israel for the book O Jerusalem!. Lapierre was proud that after spending a great deal of time in Jerusalem he knew each alley, square, street, and building in the Holy City intimately.
Two of Lapierre's books – Is Paris Burning? (co-written with Larry Collins) and City of Joy – have been made into films. Lapierre and Collins wrote several other books together, the last being Is New York Burning? (2005), before Collins' death in 2005.
Bibliography
Novels
- The Fifth Horseman (Le Cinquième Cavalier) (1980), with Larry Collins, Template:ISBN
- The City of Joy (La Cité de la joie) (1985), Template:ISBN
- Beyond Love (Plus grands que l'amour) (1990), Template:ISBN
- Is New York Burning? (New-York brûle-t-il?) (2005), with Larry Collins, Template:ISBN
Non-fiction
- Autobiographies
- A Thousand Suns (Mille soleil) (1999), memoir, Template:ISBN
- India mon amour (Inde ma bien-aimée) (2010), memoir, Template:ISBN
- Biographies
- Chessman Told Me (Chessman m'a dit) (1960)
- Or I'll Dress You in Mourning (...Ou tu porteras mon deuil) (1968), with Larry Collins
- History
- Is Paris Burning? (Paris brûle-t-il?) (1965), with Larry Collins, Template:ISBN
- O Jerusalem! (Ô Jérusalem) (1972), with Larry Collins, Template:ISBN
- Freedom at Midnight (Cette nuit la liberté) (1975), with Larry Collins, Template:ISBN
- Five Past Midnight in Bhopal (Il était minuit cinq à Bhopal) (2001), with Javier Moro, Template:ISBN
- A Rainbow in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa (Un arc-en-ciel dans la nuit) (2008), Template:ISBN
- Travels
- A Dollar for a Thousand Miles (Un dollar les mille kilomètres) (1949)
- Once Upon a Time in The Soviet Union (Il était une fois l'URSS) (2005) with Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini, Template:ISBN — chronicles a 1956 journey he took across the Soviet Union with Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini
- Honeymoon around the Earth (Lune de miel autour de la Terre) (2005)
Adaptations
- Is Paris Burning? (1966), film directed by René Clément, based on book Is Paris Burning?
- City of Joy (1992), film directed by Roland Joffé, based on novel City of Joy
- A cloud over Bhopal (2001), documentary directed by Gerardo Olivares and Larry Levene, based on book Five Past Midnight in Bhopal
- Viceroy's House (2017), film directed by Gurinder Chadha, based on book Freedom at Midnight
