L'humeur vagabonde

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Presentation

Benoît Laborie leaves his wife and kids to make his fortune in Paris. A sad arriviste in the mold of Balzac’s Rastignac, he wanders around Père Lachaise Cemetery. When he makes his way back to his village, his mother mistakenly thinks he is his wife’s lover and she kills her supposedly unfaithful daughter-in-law. A man who gives off a criminal scent, the French capital awaits him, but not for long. The who’s who of Paris embraces then quickly rejects him as a passing fancy. L’Humeur vagabonde is a tragicomic fable, a sweat-and-sour melody with an inimitable style.

The only child of Bohemian parents, Antoine Blondin found fame upon the publication of his first book. Alternating between journalism – he was the Bard of the Tour de France between 1950 and 1980 – and literature, this light traveler left behind five novels, all published by La Table Ronde.

With his first novel, L’Europe buissonnière, Antoine Blondin caught the attention of writers like Marcel Aymé and Roger Nimier who soon became his friends. His following novels confirmed his writing talent and the uniqueness of his style situated between Stendhal and Jules Renard.

He evoked the passion for alcohol in Un singe en hiver (Prix Interallié, 1959), which has been adapted for the screen and performed by Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo. In the years following its publication, it has been translated in the United States, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Yugoslavia. Today, the translation rights for these countries are available again.

"Immortal Antoine Blondin.”  L’Opinion Indépendante

“Antoine Blondin’s books are aging like old forgotten liquors. They are admirable, and poignant. ”  Le Figaro Littéraire

“Blondin was a slave to what he admired ; he could feel others’ feelings as his own and exalt them in the most brilliant writings. ”  Le Magazine Littéraire

“The extravagant and sensitive author of Un singe en hiver hasn’t lost any of its flavor." Le Point