Biography de François Cheng, writer
A young Chinese immigrant lost in the history of the 20th century, he did not speak a word of French when he arrived in Paris. He then began a long dialogue between East and West, and, through a vast body of work, established himself as one of the major writers of recent decades, whose prose and poetry have “united him with the French song.”
His profound reflections, delivered through a uniquely singular style, address death, beauty, exile, spirituality, painting, and the richness of languages. A member of the French Academy, he has just published, at the age of 95, a new work, Une nuit au cap de la Chèvre (Albin Michel, 2025). A man of doubt, humility, and charity, François Cheng reminds us that “it is our awareness of death that makes us see life as an absolute good, and the advent of life as a unique adventure that nothing can replace.”
Never fail to listen to others and to think for yourself.
A poem-chair
“I adopted the chair, this familiar object, a few decades ago, at a time when I wanted to create art on a human scale in public spaces, while everywhere else people opted for the monumental: it is an object shaped like the body and serves the body. It is difficult to feel exclusive ownership of an object so universally shareable. It is mine when I occupy it, but if I leave it, someone else can claim it as their chair.” Michel Goulet, artist-sculptor
The project Prendre position
Prendre position is a sculpture-installation project of 47 chair-poems to mark the 100th anniversary of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. They were installed in a flowered meadow created especially for the occasion by the campus estate service.
This artistic installation was conceived by the Quebecois artist-sculptor Michel Goulet, in collaboration with François Massut, founding director of the collective Poésie is not dead.
Each house on the campus is represented by a chair, thanks to a donation from the Maison des étudiants canadiens and the support of the Labrenne group. Each of the 47 chairs is a unique work.
History and architecture of the house
The Maison des étudiants de la francophonie is the first house entirely funded by the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris National Foundation, of which it was the project owner. It hosts students and researchers from the Francophone world, enabling them to study at the best higher education institutions in the Île-de-France region. As part of the “Cité 2025” development plan, it welcomed its first residents in January 2021.
