A. D. G.

A.D.G. (the initials of the pseudonym Alain Dreux-Gallou), whose real name was Alain Fournier, also known as Camille or Alain Camille,^[1] was a French novelist and journalist. He was born on December 19, 1947, in Tours, and died on November 1, 2004, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.^[2] He married Martine Joulié shortly before his death, in July 2004.^[3]

For about ten years, A.D.G. was one of the leading authors of the Série Noire collection published by Gallimard. He remains well known for representing a right-wing, even far-right, political sensibility—a stance that became more pronounced in the 1980s when he became the main organizer for the National Front in New Caledonia. This position set him apart within the French noir fiction revival of the 1970s, a movement largely dominated by writers with leftist, far-left, or anarchist leanings, such as Jean-Patrick Manchette, another prominent figure of the Série Noire during that decade. Whether in the titles of his crime novels or in his journalistic columns, he was also known for his fondness for wordplay.

After joining a military boarding school at the age of twelve and leaving the school system with only a BEPC (lower secondary education certificate), he began working life as an employee at Crédit Lyonnais, then went on to work as a secondhand bookseller and antiques dealer.^[4] For a time, he was close to the polemicist Michel-Georges Micberth, who led the Jeune Force Poétique Française (Young French Poetic Force), and became his collaborator and literary director at the JFPF publishing house (from 1966 to 1971), where he wrote under the pseudonym "Alain Dreux-Gallou"—Dreux and Gallou being the surnames of two of his grandparents. His real name was difficult to use in literature due to its similarity to that of the well-known author Alain-Fournier, so he kept the initials of his pseudonym—A.D.G.—always written with three periods, as his pen name. At one point, he considered switching to the name Alain Camille, but quickly reverted to his original signature. In fact, Camille became the legal surname he adopted, as he found his birth name too burdensome.

His first novel, La Divine Surprise, was inspired by the confidences of Jo Attia, a gangster and resistance fighter, whose biography he was ghostwriting at the time. Due to the mystery surrounding his true identity, some imaginative journalists once speculated that A.D.G. was a pseudonym for Raymond Queneau, while others believed the book to be the memoirs of a former gangster turned writer.

In his novels, unlike other authors of the Série Noire, he deliberately avoids glorifying the criminal underworld, which he considered to be made up of "dim-witted, foolish, and inconsistent idiots who ride on the fame that writers like Auguste Le Breton and José Giovanni have created for them." An admirer of Albert Simonin, A.D.G. sprinkled his early novels—particularly Les Panadeux—with slang expressions. He signed each of his novels by including a reference to the polemicist Paul-Louis Courier, whose commemorative monument has stood in the main square of Véretz since 1878.

In 1972, he published a Berrichon chronicle titled La Nuit des grands chiens malades, which was adapted into a film by Georges Lautner under the title Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles. The story features a hippie commune settling in a small village and clashing with a gang of criminals, eventually teaming up with local farmers. This was followed by a subtle tribute to Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Cradoque's Band; a heist story, Les Trois Badours, published under the pseudonym Alain Camille; and a return to the Berry region with Berry story. In 1977, he won the Mystère de la critique prize for L'otage est sans pitié. That same year, he wrote Le Grand Meaulnes, which imagines Augustin's return to his lost homeland—a work that serves as both a tribute to and a parody of the masterpiece by his great predecessor.

In Pour venger pépère (1980), a suspense novel that Jean-Patrick Manchette described as "very coherent, very accomplished, excellent," a young lawyer from the Tours bar investigates the death of his grandfather, who was killed during a heist shootout. In the background, we catch a glimpse of his favorite character: the alcoholic, anarchist-leaning journalist Sergueï Djerbitskine, also known as "Machin" (partly inspired by his friend Serge de Beketch, but who becomes a stand-in for A.D.G. himself in the novels set in New Caledonia).

In 1981, he tried his hand at a short 100-page story, La Nuit myope, which Jean Cochet described as "one hundred percent literary" and called "a kind of pathetic epic of a half-hearted dreamer." Between late 1981 and early 1982, he gained scandalous notoriety by appearing on the first episodes of the TV show Droit de réponse. During the very first broadcast, he shouted "Long live Pinochet!", and in the third episode, during an off-air break, he punched the cartoonist Siné, who had insulted another Minute journalist also present on set.^[5]

In 1982, he moved to New Caledonia, where he began writing a historical novel about the island's colonization, Le Grand Sud, which became a bookstore success upon its release in 1987. While on the island, A.D.G. also engaged in intense political activism against the Kanak independence movement. He launched an anti-independence weekly newspaper and took charge of organizing the local branches of the National Front. His political militancy—which led to police custody and contributed to his poor reputation in mainland France—caused him to neglect his literary work. As a result, he abandoned plans for a sequel to Le Grand Sud and, between 1987 and 1991, wrote only three crime novels containing attacks on the independence movement—books he himself did not consider to be very good.^[6]

He returned to Metropolitan France in 1991. Struggling with a creative block, he was unable to regain the motivation to publish new novels and spent a period unemployed after being dismissed from Minute. He was the only prominent author of the Série Noire not to be reissued during the collection's 50th anniversary in 1997. In 2003, after a long absence, he made his return to crime fiction with a new novel set in Australia, Kangouroad movie. Patrick Raynal, then director of the Série Noire, published the book in the La Noire collection.

In 2007, a final novel, J'ai déjà donné..., was published posthumously by Le Dilettante. It serves as a kind of fictional apotheosis, bringing together the main characters from his earlier novels.

Alongside his career as a novelist, he also worked as a journalist across a range of right-leaning publications, including socialist, Gaullist, and right-wing anarchism press:

• 1966: Freelance contributor for Réveil socialiste, run by former Socialist minister Jean Meunier

• 1968: Editor-in-chief of Révolution 70
• 1972–1973: Columnist at Actual-Hebdo

Later, he worked extensively with the far-right press, serving in various roles:

• 1973–1981: Journalist, columnist, and eventually senior reporter for the weekly Minute^[7]

• During the 1980s: Founder of Combat calédonien, an anti-independence weekly in New Caledonia, where he lived from 1981 to 1991. His one-year participation in this press venture led to several fines and convictions. A.D.G. eventually gave up, while Combat calédonien's main target, Edgard Pisani, also came out somewhat "battered" by the ordeal

• 1991–1994: Columnist at Minute

• After 1994: Member of the editorial team at the far-right weekly Rivarol,^[8] becoming its secretary general in 1998. He continued working there for another year, until his worsening illness forced him to step back. He also contributed to Le Figaro littéraire in 2003–2004.

In addition to novels and journalism, A.D.G. also wrote comic book scripts, notably for the monthly magazine Pilote, as well as television serials (Chéri Bibi, adapted from the novel by Gaston Leroux and aired in 1973, and Les Mystères de New York, written in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Richard and aired in 1976).

In 1981, he was at the center of a minor scandal following the publication in a special issue of the magazine (À suivre) of a comic titled Léopold Micheteau, détective, for which he was the scriptwriter and Benoît Sokal the illustrator. Some readers perceived antisemitic elements in the work, prompting the magazine's editors to publish an embarrassed editorial a few weeks later offering their apologies. However, the appearance of the Jewish characters—the source of the controversy—was solely the result of Sokal's illustrations and had nothing to do with A.D.G.'s script.

A.D.G. died in 2004 from cancer. Before his illness worsened, he had been planning to write an essay on the writer Jacques Perret. A year before his death, which he knew was approaching, he expressed his wish to be buried in Véretz, telling La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest, Indre-et-Loire edition: "I've reserved my spot in the Véretz cemetery; that'll make three writers for the price of one, with Paul-Louis Courier and Eugène Bizeau."

His funeral, held on November 5, 2004, at the Saint-Eugène Sainte-Cécile Church in Paris before his burial in his hometown of Véretz, brought together various figures from the "national right," who had been divided since the crisis within the Front National in 1998-1999. Among those attending, who otherwise had little interaction beyond their shared presence, were Jean-Marie Le Pen, president of the Front National, and Serge Martinez, secretary-general of the splinter Front National; Marine Le Pen and her older sister Marie-Caroline Le Pen, both of whom had been involved in the "Mégrétiste" faction; as well as other notable personalities such as Emmanuel Ratier, Yann Clerc, Dominique Jamet, and Jean Raspail. The weekly Rivarol titled its funeral coverage "A.D.G. the Unifier," likely referring to the journalist's role during the 1998-1999 crisis in trying, if not to "patch things up," at least not to make the conflict worse.

The cordial relationship between A.D.G. and Frédéric H. Fajardie, another noir fiction author, was recalled after Fajardie's death on May 1, 2008, by writer Jérôme Leroy in an article published on May 10, 2008, in the weekly Marianne, titled "Fajardie: Death of a Red Bernanosian". He wrote: "Even though he was becoming a cult author for many young royalist hussars, and even though he was friends with A.D.G., Fajardie remained a 'writer of the streets.

In contrast, the exact nature of the relationship between A.D.G. and Jean-Patrick Manchette appears more complex. For several years, particularly in political circles sympathetic to A.D.G.'s views, there was a rumor of a supposed long-standing friendship between the two. This claim was reiterated on June 6, 2008, by Sébastien Lapaque, on the occasion of a censored edition of A.D.G.'s columns published in Libre Journal de la France courtoise. On that date, Lapaque stated that, in his view, "The two men had just met in the offices of the Série Noire and had formed a paradoxical friendship that never wavered. They even maintained a correspondence that the leftist mafia of politically correct crime fiction is in no hurry to unearth. In it, Manchette admits to reading Minute with pleasure."^[9]

This version was strongly refuted by Doug Headline, Jean-Patrick Manchette's son. He noted that Sébastien Lapaque was a "former activist of the far-right student movement Action Française lycéenne and contributor to the royalist journal Action Française hebdo," and asserted, in an op-ed published by Libération, that the relationship between the two authors did not extend beyond the 1972–1977 period. This is also supported by academic Bertrand Tassou. According to Headline, their connection was limited to their collaboration within the Série Noire and ended in a falling-out—an outcome that was inevitable given their opposing political views. Also according to Headline, their correspondence amounted to no more than about ten letters.

Bernard Antony described A.D.G. as an "anarcho-reactionary" and a "Céline-style legitimist royalist" who, nevertheless, "was not always, in his novels, a transmitter of the Church's social and moral doctrine."^[10]

The sociologist Gabriel Thoveron writes: "A.D.G. is a nationalist, anti-parliamentarian, with heroes like the lawyer Pascal Delcroix, who can say that his friend Machin 'was the correspondent in Tours for a nationalist newspaper, and as for me, I had delightedly joined the sparse ranks of a monarchist party with legitimist leanings' (Pour venger Pépère). But A.D.G., at times ambiguous, claims in his own way to place himself within the spirit of the May '68 movement."^[11]

• 1969: Open Letter to a Little Magistrate (Micberth, illustrations by Bernard Deyriès).

• 1971: The Divine Surprise (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1429; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 545)

• 1971: The Panadeux (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1443; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 518)

• 1972: The Truque March… (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1473; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 554)

• 1972: The Night of the Big Sick Dogs (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1482; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 197 under the title Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles; reissued in "Folio" collection, no. 2224) — adapted into a film titled Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles

• 1972: Cradoque's Band (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1493; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 373)

• 1972: The Three Badours (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1544; reissued in "Folio Policier" collection, no. 229) — For the first edition, A.D.G. used the pseudonym Alain Camille.

• 1973: Berry Story (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1586)

• 1974: Our brother who is odious... (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1662; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 566; reissued in "Folio Policier" collection, no. 171)

• 1974: I am a dark novel (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1692, reissued in the "Carré Noir" collection, no. 468)

• 1976: The hostage is merciless (Gallimard, "Super Noire" collection, no. 43; Mystery Critics' Prize^[12] tied with Enfantasme by Georges-Jean Arnaud)

• 1977: The Big Kid (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1717) — A title that was a subtle tribute to his namesake Alain-Fournier. Adapted as the sixteenth TV film in the crime anthology series Série noire, broadcast on TF1 in 1985.

• 1977: Just a joker (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1721; reissued in "Carré Noir" collection, no. 506)

• 1980: To avenge grandpa (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1806; reissued in "Folio Policier" collection, no. 153)

• 1980: The Investigations of Inspector Alfred Beaugat (Dargaud, "Pilote" collection) — Script by A.D.G., illustrations by Loro and North — Includes: Une Aventure de l'inspecteur Alfred Beaugat, Le Sale Grand Meaulnes, L'inspecteur Beaugat monte à Paris, and Fripe-futaille contre Lèche-douzils

• 1981: The Myopic Night (Balland, "L'Instant romanesque" collection; reissued in 2003 by Christian Durante, "Poche-numérique" collection)

• 1981: Black Bullets (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1825)

• 1982: We are not dogs (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 1862; reissued in "Folio Policier" collection, no. 189)

• 1987: Toys on the rock (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 2089) — a "Caledonian novel" of political fiction.

• 1987: The Great South (Jean-Claude Lattès) — a New Caledonian adventure novel.

• 1988: Nickel-Plated Tickets (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 2124)

• 1988: It's the galleys! (Gallimard, "Série Noire" collection, no. 2134)

• 2003: Kangouroad Movie (Gallimard, "la Noire" collection) Australian thriller

• 2007: I've Already Given (Le Dilettante, 278 pages), reissued by Actes Sud, "Babel noir" collection no. 22, 2008

• 2008: Gummed papers (Le Dilettante, 320 pages)

• 2009: Some [not too] calm ideas, Association Les Amis d'A.D.G., Paris, 48 pages. — Collects six columns written by A.D.G. from 1976 to 1978 in the magazine Item.