Bernard-Henri Lévy

This new responsibility does not keep Lévy from again turning his attention to the great painters, dedicating a book to Piero della Francesca, the master of the Italian Renaissance, and to Mondrian (Editions de la Différence). It is also the early days of the war in ex-Yugoslavia.

Bernard-Henri Lévy takes up the call. With Gilles Hertzog, Jean-François Deniau and the young mayor of Lourdes, Philippe Doust-Blazy, BHL is the first, in May 1992, to enter the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo under siege. On his return he transmits to President Mitterrand the message of distress and appeal for help that the president of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic, entrusted to him during the siege. It is this message and Lévy’s insistence that will convince the French president to undertake his “historic” trip to Sarajevo. With Alain Ferrari, and with the images of Thierry Ravalet, Lévy creates a first documentary entitled Un jour dans la mort de Sarajevo [A Day in the Death of Sarajevo]. Broadcast on television by France 3 on December 20, 1992, it presents, in 63 minutes, the martyrdom of this ecumenical city and the suffering of its inhabitants who heroically resist the incessant bombings.

With Le Jugement Dernier [The Last Judgement], BHL makes the transition to theatre. Presented at the Théâtre de l’Atelier with stage direction by Jean-Louis Martinelli, this play sketches a portrait of the 20th century: communism, Nazism, “Pol Potism” – all the great excesses of the century appear here, but with a dimension of humour and of sarcasm that is surprising for those familiar with Barbarie à visage humain.The publication of the fourth volume of Questions de principe (sub-titled Idées fixes; Le Livre de Poche) brings together a new series of articles, dedicated notably to post-communist Europe, the Gulf War, the Touvier affair, as well as an homage to former teachers: Roland Barthes, Louis Althusser, and Jacques Lacan. In October, in Finland, Salman Rushdie makes his first public appearance, under the aegis of BHL.