Jean-Philippe Toussaint – Laurent Fressinet: “With chess, beware of lazy metaphors” (Culture)

In The Chessboard (ed. de Minuit) published this fall, Jean-Philippe Toussaint tells us that although his father never gave him the chance to beat him at chess once he realized his son had the ability, he did give him “permission” to become a writer. Although he abandoned his youthful passion for a few years, the 65-year-old Belgian, now a best-selling author, offers a new approach to his work. “vagabondage in the meanders of his memories, where the game of chess occupies a large place in the 64 chapters, like the number of squares on a chessboard.