University of Bucharest honors distinguished French writer
The University of Bucharest (UB) will confer the title of Doctor Honoris Causa on Frédéric Vitoux, distinguished French writer and literary critic, and member of the Académie Française, during a ceremony to be held on Friday.
"Granting the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest to the writer Frédéric Vitoux is a sign of recognition for his remarkable contribution to world literature and a reaffirmation of the University’s commitment to promoting academic excellence, international collaboration, and intercultural dialogue," the institution said in a statement, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.
A Doctor of Letters of Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), Frédéric Vitoux devoted his doctoral thesis to the writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline, later published under the title Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Misère et parole (1973). That same year, he made his literary debut with the novel Cartes Postales.
Author of an extensive body of work that includes over 20 novels, biographies, and essays, Vitoux is recognized for a style that combines erudition with the refinement of fiction, viewed through a deeply humanistic lens, the university’s statement notes.
Throughout his career, Frédéric Vitoux has contributed to numerous prestigious cultural publications, including Le Nouvel Observateur, Positif, and Quotidien de Paris, thus consolidating his reputation as a distinguished intellectual in the global literary arena.
His works have received numerous literary awards, among them:
the Prix Maille-Latour-Landry of the Académie Française for Les Cercles de l’Orage (1976),
the Prix Biguet for Céline (1979) and Mes Îles Saint-Louis (1982),
the Prix Valery-Larbaud (1991),
the Grand Prix du Roman de l’Académie Française for La Comédie de Terracina (1994), and
the Prix Goncourt for La Vie de Céline (1988).
In 2021, he was awarded the title of Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of France’s highest cultural distinctions.
Vitoux is also the author of the celebrated volume Le Dictionnaire amoureux des chats (2008), a true literary encyclopedia dedicated to the feline world — reflecting the writer’s playful spirit, erudition, and humanistic sensitivity. Among his more recent works are Au Rendez-vous des Mariniers (2016), L’Ours et le Philosophe (2022), and La Mort du Procureur Impérial (2025).
The author’s relationship with Romanian culture has been long-standing and fruitful. Many of his works have been translated and published in Romanian, including 9 zile la Terracina (Alffa Publishing, 1998), Clarisse (Spandugino, 2011), Grand Hotel Nelson (Spandugino, 2013), La ce oră, din ce zi… (Univers Publishing, 2020), and most recently, Viața lui Céline (Cartier Publishing, 2025).
