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Jean-Hubert Gailliot's debut novel La vie magnétique

publication · 2026-04-23

Jean-Hubert Gailliot, founder of Tristram editions in 1987, published his first novel La vie magnétique for the 1997 literary season. The book, despite its well-worn theme of leaving adolescence behind, immediately places itself between Larbaud's Fermina Marquez and Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes. With an electric, limpid, and irreproachable sentence, the author tells how Tom, at the wheel of a car 'borrowed' from his director, speeds down the highway to go to a party. The narrative is structured by the dialogue between the character and the author.

Key facts

  • Jean-Hubert Gailliot founded Tristram editions in 1987.
  • La vie magnétique is Gailliot's first novel.
  • The novel was published for the 1997 literary season.
  • The story follows Tom driving a borrowed car to a party.
  • The narrative is structured as a dialogue between character and author.
  • The novel is compared to works by Larbaud and Alain-Fournier.

Entities

Artists

  • Jean-Hubert Gailliot

Institutions

  • Tristram

Sources