In “Ce moine qui faisait briller,” No, let’s say “Ce moine qui voulait faire briller”/”Une raison qui serait, pour les autres, approuvée” No, rather “Une raison qui serait unanimement approuvée” The surgery takes place in front of us, the doctor’s name is Charles Trenet. He is 16 years old when he begins writing this first novel entitled “Les Rois fainéants” in Berlin, 17 when he finishes it in Font-Romeu, not far from his native Narbonne.
“He has written other novels, but this one is the genesis,” emphasizes Vincent Lisita, the enthusiast of the “Singing Madman” who saved the manuscript from eternal oblivion. “Trenet shows off his literary references. There are some flaws, descriptions that are too long at times, but one can already feel his painterly eye. He doesn’t watch himself write.” The young author weaves a tale about the destiny of these Merovingian kings, who history remembers for not really making their mark (“doing nothing”). This fantasy then shifts to modern times when the teenager sets the narrative in a grand hotel from the 1920s.
Ten years before his solo career: The manuscript was offered to Robert Denoël, who did not pursue it, unlike “Journey to the End of the Night” by Céline two years later. Other publishers have guided the young novelist, but this first literary outing was not in vain. “It allowed him to integrate the circles of Parisian poets and to meet Cocteau or Max Jacob,” contextualizes Vincent Lisita. Charles Trenet then takes the stage in a duo with the Swiss pianist Johnny Hess before breaking through solo at the end of the 1930s. His song “Y’a d’la joie,” initially entrusted to Maurice Chevalier before being reappropriated by the Narbonnais, will be his first major success in 1938.
Vincent Lisita knows a lot about this, as he manages a chronological integral at the sound publisher Frémeaux et Associés. An artistic direction taken up with Pascal Halbeher, following the jazz historian Daniel Nevers. “We have songs that he performed only once,” enthuses the professor who recently left the national education system to focus on his artistic projects. “A collector friend had collected everything from the 1930s, even pieces that were only aired once on the radio. He kept records of everything.”
“I therefore bought it myself for a tidy sum. Let’s say that after that, I couldn’t change my old Megane!” The Pau aesthete, a regular at the “L’Aragon” brewery, has maintained a thread with Charles Trenet for over thirty years. He made himself known in 2013, on the occasion of the singer’s centenary, with the publication of a nice “Trenet méconnu”. Vincent Lisita followed in 2018 with a delightful “Trenet et Cabu. La vie qui va,” where he combined the texts of the Narbonnais with the genius drawings of his greatest fan.
“Les Rois fainéants” were invited into this companionship in 2021, on the occasion of the auction of the Gaston-Saffroy collection at Artcurial. This librarian from the VIth arrondissement specialized in heraldry but was still a fan of authors of his time. The auction reached 548,000 euros and included, among other treasures, a manuscript by Georges Brassens. The neighboring hermit, remembered for saying: “On a deserted island, I would take Charles Trenet.”
“Les Rois fainéants” were published on Januar…
(End of excerpt)
