Bernard-Marie Koltès's Letters Reveal Political and Spiritual Quest

A review of two recent publications on playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès: 'Lettres' (Éditions de Minuit) and Brigitte Salino's biography 'Bernard-Marie Koltès' (Éditions Stock). The letters, spanning from childhood to his death in 1989, reveal a writer driven by a sacred passion and a spiritual hunt, placing art at the service of the condemned of the Western world. Koltès's correspondence shows his commitment to the working class and the exploited, evolving from a Christian anarchism to a communist hypothesis. He signed letters 'Yours for the revolution.' However, his travels to Nigeria and Nicaragua radicalized his view of the foreigner as a symbol of difference. Salino's biography traces this inner epic, connecting his theatrical works, films like 'La Nuit perdue,' and the screenplay 'Nickel Stuff.' She emphasizes that the presence of foreigners in Koltès's theater is essential. The letters also reveal his desire to be reborn in the other, to become a defector from the West, adopting heteronyms like Manuel or Pedro. His last message before dying of AIDS was 'In God we trust – Do we ?'