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| Parent company | Lagardère Group |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1907; 118 years ago (1907) |
| Founder | Bernard Grasset |
| Country of origin | France |
| Key people | Yves Berger,Edmonde Charles-Roux,Bernard-Henri Lévy,François Nourissier |
| Publication types | Books |
| Revenue | 19,5 millions € (2012) |
| No. of employees | 39 (2012) |
| Official website | www |
Éditions Grasset (French pronunciation:[edisjɔ̃ɡʁasɛ]) is a French publishing house founded in 1907 byBernard Grasset [fr] (1881–1955). Grasset publishes French and foreign literature, essays, novels and children's books, among others.
Bernard Grasset sold ownership of the company to Hachette in 1954. In 1967, Éditions Grasset merged withÉditions Fasquelle [fr]. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Hachette, which has been owned byLagardère Group since 1981.
Bernard Grasset was born in 1881 in Montpellier. He received a degree in economics before moving to Paris, where he ran in literary circles and started his own publishing business.[1] The company published a number of successful books in its early years, includingAlphonse de Châteaubriant'sMonsieur des Lourdines andAndré Savignon'sLes Filles de la pluie, both of which won thePrix Goncourt.[2] In 1913, Grasset published the first volume ofÀ la recherche du temps perdu, byMarcel Proust,Du côté de chez Swann. Proust paid for the publication of his book after it was rejected by other publishers. Bernard Gasset agreed to publish only if Proust covered the entire cost, and told a friend, "It's unreadable."[3]
The company published a number of notable authors, includingAndré Maurois,François Mauriac,Henry de Montherlant,Paul Morand (called the 4 Ms) and later on:Raymond Radiguet,Blaise Cendrars,André Malraux,Pierre Drieu la Rochelle,Fernand de Brinon,Jacques Doriot,Abel Bonnard,Jacques Chardonne, andGeorges Blond. The publication of Radiguet'sLe Diable au corps was significant not only for its literary merit or the youth of its author, for the amount of publicity Grasset invested in, including posters, photos of the young Radiguet, interviews, and films.[4] This changed the landscape of the publishing industry in France, as firms spent more on marketing their authors to a reading public that became more interested in reading and more unpredictable in their taste.
In 1921, Grasset hiredDaniel Halévy to edit a new line of books,Les Cahiers Verts [fr] (The Green Notebooks). The first entry in the series wasLouis Hémon'sMaria Chapdelaine. The series consisted of creative essays and fiction, like Malraux'sTentacion de l'Occident, and lasted through the early 1960s.[5]
Grasset publications were frequent literary prize-winners in France. Alphonse de Châteaubriant won theGrand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1923 withLa Brière.[6]Maurice Genevoix'sRaboliot won the Prix Goncourt in 1925. Other prize-winners include Mauriac'sLe Désert de l'amour [fr],André Demaison'sLe Livre des bêtes qu'on appelle sauvages [fr],Jacques Chardonne'sClaire,Joseph Peyre'sSang et Lumières,Jean de La Varende'sLe Centaure de Dieu [fr],Édouard Peisson'sLe Voyage d'Edgar [fr],Jean Blanzat'sL'Orage du matin, andPaul Mousset'sNeige sur un amour nippon.
In 1948 Bernard Grasset was convicted of collaboration with the Nazis in World War II, fined 10,000 francs and sentenced to "national condemnation for life."[7] Bernard Grasset was not the only person in his circle accused of collaborating, as Henry de Montherlant was also condemned for sympathizing with Nazis. Montherlant's bookLe solstice de Juin was published by Grasset in 1941, and it hailed the German victory over France in 1940.[8]
In 1954 the company was sold to Hachette. The next year Bernard Grasset's nephew,Bernard Privat, was named the new head of Éditions Grasset. Bernard Grasset died in October of 1955.
Bernard Privat formed a partnership withJean-Claude Fasquelle and eventually merged Grasset with Éditions Fasquelle.
Yves Berger served as literary director for the company from 1960 to 2000.
In 1966,Edmonde Charles-Roux won the first Prix Goncourt for Grasset in the post-WWII era withTo Forget Palermo.Jacques Chessex'sL'Ogre andAntonine Maillet'sPélagie-la-Charrette also won the prize, in 1973 and 1979, respectively.
In 1981, Grasset's parent company, Hachette, was taken over by Lagardère Group. Bernard Privat left the company, and Fasquelle took over as Grasset CEO. Fasquelle oversaw the creation of a new series,Les Cahiers Rouges (The Red Notebooks), modern classics in a "semi-pocket" format with recognizable red covers.
From 1981 to 2005,Lucien Bodard,Dominique Fernandez,Amin Maalouf,Patrick Rambaud,Pascal Quignard,François Weyergans, published by Grasset, won thePrix Goncourt.Jean-Marie Rouart,Raphaële Billetdoux,François Weyergans,Pascal Bruckner,Dominique Bona,Daniel Picouly,Frédéric Beigbeder,Virginie Despentes,Yann Moix,Olivier Guez, won thePrix Renaudot, from 1984 to 2017.
Olivier Nora, former CEO of the Hachette-owned publisherCalmann-Lévy, succeeded Jean-Claude Fasquelle as Chairman of the Board in 2000 and as CEO in 2006. The company continues to publish French and translated literature, including books by non-French authors such asUmberto Eco,Gabriel García Márquez,Colm Toibin,Hanya Yanagihara, and many others.
In 2020, Grasset made news by publishingVanessa Springora'sLe Consentement (Consent).[9] The book is a memoir describing Springora's grooming and sexual abuse as a young teenager at the hands of authorGabriel Matzneff, who was 49 at the time.[10] Matzneff often wrote about pedophilia and sex tourism in his own work, and made no apologies for his predilections afterConsent was published.[11] French authorities did bring charges against Matzneff, and for a time he evaded them by remaining out of the country. Two other women came forward with allegations of abuse in 2022, but as of 2023 it seems unlikely that Matzneff will stand trial.[12]
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