Bataille studied architecture at École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, and took part in projects with Le Corbusier. Thirteen years later, he left architecture due to deafness problems, and devoted himself to writing. Living in Paris, and then in Saint Cloud, he ultimately chose Normandy to settle with his family, consisting of his wife, painter Marie Claude, and his children Frédéric, Eric, Emmanuelle, and Nicolas.
In 1947 he won the Stendhal Prize for his first novel, Patrick, and in 1950, after the publication of La marche du soleil (written during a trip to Africa), he temporarily stopped writing.
His job as an architect inspired him to write Une pyramide sur la mer in 1965, and La ville des fous in 1966. He was a guest of Bernard Pivot and Jacques Chancel on several occasions. His novel L'arbre de Noël (1967) qualified in the first two rounds of the Prix Goncourt, but was eliminated in the third round of voting. The book was later turned into a film by Terence Young in 1969, with Bourvil in the main role.[1]
His novel Une colère blanche (1969) is the story of a painter in all his creativity and suffering (winning the Prix des Quatre Jurys). The novelCendres sur la mer (1975) went against the grain of the times by presenting abortion as a tragedy.
He also published books on Jean Jaurès and Gilles de Rais.
He was the nephew of Georges Bataille.
