“Du contage au partage”

Abstract

This paper aims to rediscover Hervé Guibert and his book À l’ami qui ne m’a pas sauvé la vie. The book reached a significantly wide audience in 1990, not only because publicly revealing that he was diagnosed with AIDS, but also for the fictionalization of some facts and people, such as Michel Foucault. Thanks to his use of the novel strategies, Guibert guides the readers towards the discovery, by means of the virus in his body, of two other metaphorical infections: T.B. and the time left to write. These two contagions act on his body and soul as antidotes. Hervés Guibert discovers a way of salvation, the guarantee of eternity, the possibility of a total reversal: “du contage au partage”, from contagion to sharing.

Keywords

• AIDS
• Autofiction
• Confession
• Homosexuality
• Metaphors