She has been delighting the radio for twelve years. After “No need to cry”, “Les Nouvelles Vagues” and “Par les temps qui cours”, Marie Richeux inherited this fall, on France Culture, the “Book Club”, which Nicolas Herbeaux produced at 12:50 p.m., and now installed at 3 p.m. And, every day since, it’s been a gift. She started with Chloé Delaume, called Miossec to discuss Georges Perros, gave us to hear the soft voice of Zeruya Shalev, offered us such an inspiring breath of fresh air with Marielle Macé – so many programs that can be listened to over and over again.
On this Thursday, September 14, and while we slipped into the Radio France studio where this “Book Club” is produced live, she brought together the actress Dea Liane for her first novel, Georgette (Editions de L’Olivier, 160 p., €17) and Antoine Wauters for Le Plus Court Chemin (Verdier, 256 p., €19.50). Both are already installed when, at 2:55 p.m., Marie Richeux arrives, smiling and focused.
In management, Vivien Demeyère, her director, confides: “She prepares a lot, but leaves a lot to her instinct. » On July 9, 2020, he tweeted: “Who hasn’t heard @mariericheux and Lise-Marie Barré develop one of their fantastic “Musical Series” live on @franceculture is missing out on an example of radio in life. » In fact, that’s exactly what’s happening.
A word that circulates
It’s 3 p.m. and the show begins with the reading of extracts from Childhood (Gallimard, 1983), by Nathalie Sarraute, because the two guests explore this territory in their works. However – and this is where the magic of Marie Richeux operates – there is nothing fixed, nothing artificial in this theme. Better, without us having to worry about timing, she manages to give them equal speaking time. A word that circulates and is articulated so well.
And, first of all, memories. Dea Liane remembers learning to read Arabic. She was 7 years old. Antoine Wauters, for his part, evokes the effort that it represented to go to class and, later, this book borrowed from the library and suddenly discover that reading, like writing, he will say, “is doing the learning freedom and movement.” Concentrated, headphones on, Marie Richeux lets the two texts be heard and questions both in more detail. Caring and focused. Precise, and attentive – really. Sometimes, she cocks her arm to launch an archive and then Nathalie Sarraute appears again – this time at Alain Veinstein’s microphone: it was in 1989.
The world of yesterday, Antoine Wauters summons it in his latest book. And notes: “A world where people didn’t necessarily close the door to their homes. When I walk around, everything has either been covered in concrete or protected by alarm systems, and we have lost the ability to tell ourselves that the other is not a problem, but represents a possible source of enrichment, of discovery. And if we are not capable of allowing ourselves to be affected by the words of others, by their lives, by their differences, I don’t really see how we can form a society. » Allowing yourself to be affected by the words of others, to form a society, that’s also what Marie Richeux’s show offers: an invaluable gift.
