Jay McInerney and Olivier Cohen have known each other since the mid-1980s, when the publisher released the American writer’s first novel in French. Their shared history sheds light on McInerney’s new book, which features the return of two characters who appeared in one of his previous works.
A meeting related to Raymond Carver
When asked about their first meeting, Olivier Cohen explained that it came about thanks to Raymond Carver, whose work he published « around 1985. » The available excerpt from the interview does not reveal the rest of Jay McInerney’s account of this meeting.
Cohen published McInerney’s first book , Bright Lights, Big City , in French with Éditions Mazarine about forty years ago. The author’s subsequent novels were published by Éditions de l’Olivier. This relationship between author and publisher also contributed to McInerney’s early recognition in France, as highlighted in the interview’s introduction.
Characters reappear in a new novel
In Rendez-vous sur l’autre rive (Rendezvous on the Other Side ), Jay McInerney revisits Russell, an editor, and Corrine, two characters he introduced in Thirty and a Bit . The new novel tackles themes such as the midlife crisis, Covid, and a New York City that, according to the synopsis, is no longer quite the same.
A regular meeting in France
McInerney spent part of the summer in France, in a hotel on the Cap d’Antibes that reminds him of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night . He has been staying there for twenty years, a habit that has become a tradition.
The interview with Didier Jacob, published on September 28, 2026, thus revisits the links between the writer and his publisher, while presenting the characters and themes of his new novel.
Source: Le Nouvel Obs – BibliObs (www.nouvelobs.com)
Original article: See the original source
Author: Didier Jacob
