Always defeated, always standing: ridiculous or admirable, what do don Quixote’s battles against the windmills that grind in a world that doesn’t go round tell us? This literary evening, closing the “Changing the world? don Quixote’s way of seeing”, invites us to dream upright rather than walk upright, in the company of writer Lydie Salvayre.
Detailed program
6.15pm-7pm Signing session in the forum
Signing session and convivial discussion with Lydie SALVAYRE and the authors and artists taking part in the “Changing the world? Don Quixote’s way of seeing”.
19h-20h30 Lecture-debate with Lydie Salvayre
Debate with writer Lydie Salvayre in dialogue with Danielle Perrot-Corpet. The discussion will be punctuated by readings of excerpts, by Daphné Proisy and Sophie Gourdin, from Scènes d’histoire, Rêver debout, by Charles Amson.
The speakers
Lydie SALVAYRE
Lydie SALVAYRE has a dual career: a well-known writer, she also trained in medicine at the University of Aix-Marseille, where she practiced psychiatry and child psychiatry in Bouc-Bel Air and Paris. A major figure in contemporary literature, she won the Prix Goncourt in 2014 for her novel Pas pleurer (Editions du seuil). In 2025, the publication of her latest work, Autoportrait à l’encre noire (published by Robert Laffont), was an opportunity to look back on a personal trajectory that made Quixote one of her fellow travelers. In 2021, in Rêver Debout (éditions du Seuil), she takes up the defense of the vigilante knight in an epistolary novel addressed to Cervantes, reproaching him for all the evil he does to his justice-loving knight: a manifesto book as much as a vibrant tribute to the necessary utopias embodied by this universal hero.
Danielle PERROT-CORPET
Danielle PERROT-CORPET is a lecturer in comparative literature at Sorbonne-Université’s Faculty of Letters, and shares with Lydie Salvayre a love of Quichotte and the writer Georges Bernanos. A specialist in the novel (Europe, the Americas and French-speaking areas), she is interested in the philosophical and political stakes of fiction in the 20th and 20th centuries, as well as the notion of “modernity” in literature since the Renaissance. In her book Don Quichotte, figure du XXe siècle (Paris: Klincksieck, 2005), she explores the reception of Don Quichotte, from his literary fortune to his many political, philosophical, religious and psychiatric re-readings. She is the author of the essay “Redresser les torts de ce monde: peut-on encore rire de don Quichotte?” in the catalog for the exhibition Don Quichotte, histoire de fou, histoire d’en rire (Mucem/Gallimard, 2025).
Charles AMSON
Charles AMSON, a member of the Paris Bar and a law professor, is the author of several plays, mainly on historical themes. Deeply moved by his reading of “Rêver debout”, he has created a theatrical adaptation of the play, recreating an imaginary dialogue between Lydie Salvayre and Cervantes.
Daphné PROISY
Daphné PROISY, trained at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, has interpreted the great roles of the classical repertoire (Macbeth, Eliante, Béline) and played great historical characters, including Marie Suart at the Festival d’Avignon and Madame Dubarry in the play Sauver la Dubarry, directed by Jacques Connort, former Director of the Comédie Française’s troisième salle.
Sophie GOURDIN
Sophie GOURDIN, a former student at the Paris Conservatoire, has long worked in film and television. In the theater, she has worked with major directors such as Françoise Seigner and Jean-Pierre Vincent. She recently played the role of Frosine in L’Avare (directed by Daniel Benoin), alongside Michel Boujenah, for three years.
Always defeated, always standing: ridiculous or admirable, what do don Quixote’s battles against the windmills that grind in a world that doesn’t go round tell us? This literary evening, closing the “Changing the world? don Quixote’s way of seeing”, invites us to dream upright rather than walk upright, in the company of writer Lydie Salvayre.
Detailed program
6.15pm-7pm Signing session in the forum
Signing session and convivial discussion with Lydie SALVAYRE and the authors and artists taking part in the “Changing the world? Don Quixote’s way of seeing”.
19h-20h30 Lecture-debate with Lydie Salvayre
Debate with writer Lydie Salvayre in dialogue with Danielle Perrot-Corpet. The discussion will be punctuated by readings of excerpts, by Daphné Proisy and Sophie Gourdin, from Scènes d’histoire, Rêver debout, by Charles Amson.
The speakers
Lydie SALVAYRE
Lydie SALVAYRE has a dual career: a well-known writer, she also trained in medicine at the University of Aix-Marseille, where she practiced psychiatry and child psychiatry in Bouc-Bel Air and Paris. A major figure in contemporary literature, she won the Prix Goncourt in 2014 for her novel Pas pleurer (Editions du seuil). In 2025, the publication of her latest work, Autoportrait à l’encre noire (published by Robert Laffont), was an opportunity to look back on a personal trajectory that made Quixote one of her fellow travelers. In 2021, in Rêver Debout (éditions du Seuil), she takes up the defense of the vigilante knight in an epistolary novel addressed to Cervantes, reproaching him for all the evil he does to his justice-loving knight: a manifesto book as much as a vibrant tribute to the necessary utopias embodied by this universal hero.
Danielle PERROT-CORPET
Danielle PERROT-CORPET is a lecturer in comparative literature at Sorbonne-Université’s Faculty of Letters, and shares with Lydie Salvayre a love of Quichotte and the writer Georges Bernanos. A specialist in the novel (Europe, the Americas and French-speaking areas), she is interested in the philosophical and political stakes of fiction in the 20th and 20th centuries, as well as the notion of “modernity” in literature since the Renaissance. In her book Don Quichotte, figure du XXe siècle (Paris: Klincksieck, 2005), she explores the reception of Don Quichotte, from his literary fortune to his many political, philosophical, religious and psychiatric re-readings. She is the author of the essay “Redresser les torts de ce monde: peut-on encore rire de don Quichotte?” in the catalog for the exhibition Don Quichotte, histoire de fou, histoire d’en rire (Mucem/Gallimard, 2025).
Charles AMSON
Charles AMSON, a member of the Paris Bar and a law professor, is the author of several plays, mainly on historical themes. Deeply moved by his reading of “Rêver debout”, he has created a theatrical adaptation of the play, recreating an imaginary dialogue between Lydie Salvayre and Cervantes.
Daphné PROISY
Daphné PROISY, trained at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, has interpreted the great roles of the classical repertoire (Macbeth, Eliante, Béline) and played great historical characters, including Marie Suart at the Festival d’Avignon and Madame Dubarry in the play Sauver la Dubarry, directed by Jacques Connort, former Director of the Comédie Française’s troisième salle.
Sophie GOURDIN
Sophie GOURDIN, a former student at the Paris Conservatoire, has long worked in film and television. In the theater, she has worked with major directors such as Françoise Seigner and Jean-Pierre Vincent. She recently played the role of Frosine in L’Avare (directed by Daniel Benoin), alongside Michel Boujenah, for three years.
