Writer, essayist, and art critic Guy Scarpetta has passed away. He died on September 28, 2026, in Paris at the age of 79, according to the Tristram editions. Born on December 27, 1946, in Châteauroux, Scarpetta was a significant figure in French intellectual circles, particularly in the magazines Tel Quel, Art Press, and La Règle du jeu. His work focused on the intersections of literature, theater, music, and visual arts. Scarpetta was a novelist, essayist, critic, and teacher, most notably at the University of Reims. He became a prominent voice in French intellectual and artistic debates from the 1970s onward. As a contributor to Tel Quel, a literary magazine founded by Philippe Sollers, and as a participant in Art Press, a magazine launched in 1972, he played a key role in its development for two decades. From 1990 to 1996, he served as the first editor-in-chief of La Règle du jeu, a magazine founded by Bernard-Henri Lévy. He also contributed to Le Monde diplomatique, a French journal of international affairs and politics. Scarpetta’s early works include Brecht or the Dead Soldier (Grasset, 1979), which examines the influence of German dramatist Bertolt Brecht on modern theater. He later wrote Ode to Cosmopolitanism (1981), followed by Impurity (1985) and The Artifice (1989). In Impurity, he argued for a creative process unbound by traditional artistic boundaries, drawing on the works of figures such as Samuel Beckett, Milan Kundera, and Jean-Luc Godard. The Artifice further explored the revival of baroque styles in contemporary art. Scarpetta had a deep interest in experimental theater, including the work of Polish artist Tadeusz Kantor and American director Richard Foreman. He published Kantor in the Present (Actes Sud, 2000), a collection of writings and conversations inspired by Kantor. He also contributed to Raoul Ruiz, the Magician (Les Impressions nouvelles, 2015), a collaborative work on the Franco-Chilean filmmaker Raoul Ruiz. His literary career included works such as Italy (Grasset, 1982) and The Lyric Sequence (1992), which was inspired by the musical composition of Alban Berg. He received the Louis-Barthou prize from the Académie française in 1993 for this novel. His later works, such as Island (Grasset, 1996) and La Guimard (Gallimard, 2008), explored historical and personal themes. His final novel, Guido (Gallimard, 2014), retraced the life of his Italian grandfather during World War II. Scarpetta also played a key role in preserving the legacy of Sophie Podolski, a Belgian poet and artist who died at 21. He championed her work in the 1970s, and her poem The Country Where Everything Is Permitted was republished in Luna Park. His dedication to artists who defied traditional categories reflected his broader intellectual interests. La Règle du jeu republished his essay "On Nationalism," in which he defended cultural exchange and cosmopolitanism against rigid national identities. Tristram editions recalled a personal anecdote about Scarpetta’s visit to their offices, where he humorously listed French composers with names containing both B and Z, ending with a playful "Debuzzy." They also noted one of his enduring maxims: "There is no progress in art, but there are regressions."