Françoise Sagan and the Talent for Wasting Life

The other day, I read a biography of Françoise Sagan.
After finishing it, the first thing I thought was, "This person's life could be a movie."
She became a world-famous bestselling author at 18, drove sports cars, fell in love, was obsessed with gambling, and lived while engaging in debates with intellectuals.
It is all so dramatic and so free.
Yet, strangely, what remained with me until the end was not her wildness.
Rather, it was a certain kind of sadness that seemed to shroud her entire life.
Sagan was a person who loved life.
But at the same time, it seems she also knew its fragility.
That is precisely why she is so captivating.

Becoming a world-famous bestselling author at 18
In 1954, at the age of just 18, she published "Bonjour Tristesse," which became a global bestseller.
A girl who was still a student at the time became a star in the literary world overnight.
Moreover, she herself said in later years that she wrote this work "feeling like it was a summer vacation pastime."
She achieved the success that many writers spend their whole lives chasing before she had even become an adult.
However, it also seems that because of this, a sense of emptiness always followed Sagan throughout her life.
What should a person who experiences the greatest success of their life first aim for afterward?
The sense of ennui and loneliness that drifts through her works may have been born from that.

Speed and the Temptation of Death
Sagan was a fierce speed demon.
She loved sports cars, and particularly favored Aston Martins.
In 1957, she caused a major accident while driving at high speed and was left in a critical, unconscious state.
She hovered between life and death for several days.
Under normal circumstances, this would be an event that changes one's outlook on life.
But Sagan did not stop there.
Even after the accident, she did not stop living her free-spirited life.
While feeling death close by, she still tried to savor life to the fullest.
That image is somehow dangerous, and beautiful.

Casinos and Life
Sagan loved casinos.
It is said that it was not rare for her to lose the massive royalties she earned as a writer in a single night.
From a modern perspective, this is reckless.
But for her, it was not the money itself that was important.
The tension of the moment of betting.
An unpredictable future.
Time governed by chance.
She was fascinated by such things.
That also overlaps with her literature.
Sagan's characters choose the feeling of being alive, even if it is dangerous, over stable happiness.
They seek to feel the act of living itself rather than managing life safely.

Friendship with Sartre
Sagan is often spoken of as a hedonistic writer.
But that is not the only thing that makes her attractive.
She deeply respected the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
The two built a close relationship, and it is said that Sagan enjoyed her conversations with Sartre more than anything else.
I like this episode.
Because within Sagan, there was clearly an intellectual desire as well as a desire for pleasure.
She wanted to enjoy life.
But at the same time, she wanted to think about the world.
She sought both.

A Summer in Provence and Port Flip
In the biography, the episode about the summer she spent in Provence with her friends was particularly impressive.
It is said that they enjoyed a cocktail called a Port Flip there.
It is an old-fashioned cocktail made with port wine and egg yolk.
The moment I learned this name, I felt a strange longing.
The strong sunlight of the South of France.
Cigarette smoke.
Conversations that lasted until late at night.
Young people talking about film and literature.
Of course, the actual 1960s were not a utopia.
But it seems that era had a unique atmosphere.

Why is the latter half of the 20th century so attractive?
The reason I am drawn to Sagan is not just her as an individual.
I think I am drawn to the era she lived in itself.
From the 1950s to the 1970s.
An era when film, literature, music, and philosophy were all changing explosively in search of new expressions.
There was no social media yet.
There was no internet.
People encountered culture through chance, not algorithms.
A book picked up by chance at a bookstore.
A work encountered at a movie theater.
Conversations exchanged at a cafe.
Such small coincidences had the power to change lives.
Support for Mitterrand and interest in the times
Sagan was not someone who kept her distance from politics.
In 1981, she supported François Mitterrand and showed interest in the movements of society.
Although she loved individual freedom above all else, that freedom was never something separated from society.
As a literary figure, she watched the times and continued to live within them.
Her later years and love for life
In her later years, Sagan was plagued by health problems and financial difficulties.
The glamorous life of her youth had been lost.
Even so, she did not stop writing.
At one point, she left behind words to the effect of, "I loved life."
I feel that everything about the person that was Sagan is expressed in these words.
I cannot say for certain that she was happy.
Perhaps there was more suffering and loneliness.
But she never turned her eyes away from life.
Even when hurt, even when failing, even when on the verge of ruin, she continued to love living.
That is likely why we are still drawn to Sagan today.
Her life is not a story of success.
It is the story of a person who loved life so much that she wasted it.