Ancient Narrative: Obituary of Alain Billault

Dear Readers,

We have sad news to share with you: Alain Billault passed away on May 9 2025. 

Romain Brethes wrote the obituary below.

Alain Billault (1949 – 2025)

Alain Billault, Professor of Greek language and literature at Paris IV-Sorbonne University, passed away on May 9 2025 in his 76th year. A former student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and agrégé de Lettres Classiques, he played a fundamental role in the development of studies on the Greek novel in France. His thesis, defended in 1987 under the supervision of Jacques Bompaire, and whose jury included B. P. Reardon, led to the publication in 1991 of a major work, La création romanesque dans la littérature grecque à l'époque impériale. At a time when this field of study was still very marginal in France, he contributed, along with a few others (such as Simone Follet, Marcelle Laplace, and Patrick Robiano), to rescuing the Greek novel from the oblivion into which it had been plunged for too long. After holding posts at the University of Angers and then at the University of Lyon 3, he was appointed in 2000 Professor at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, where he trained numerous students in the study of the Greek novel and, more generally, Greek literature of the imperial era - he was, in particular, a keen and enthusiast reader of Lucian, like his master Jacques Bompaire, and of Philostratus. Author of countless articles and contributions on the Greek novel, he was a pillar of the ever-growing community of specialists in the discipline, and had not missed an ICAN edition from Dartmouth in 1989 to Ghent in 2022. Unanimously praised by his colleagues and students alike for his tireless rigor, his great benevolence, his extreme courtesy and a sense of humor as subtle as it was irresistible, Alain Billault leaves a precious legacy for all those who are and will be interested in the ancient novel.

Romain Brethes