French writer Michel Butor, "one of the leading figures of the experimental 1950s 'Nouveau Roman' literary movement," died on Wednesday, AFP reported (via France24). He was 89. Butor was best known for his 1957 book La Modification (Second Thoughts), which won the Renaudot Prize. He built "a multi-faceted, unclassifiable body of work that included books as well as essays and poems, often drawing inspiration from his overseas travels," AFP noted. His books include Mobile, Degrees, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ape: A Caprice, and Frontiers.
"To write is to destroy barriers," he said at a retrospective of his work at Paris' French National Library in 2006.