Dantec was born in
Grenoble, France, the son of a
journalist and a
seamstress. He grew up primarily in
Ivry-sur-Seine near
Paris. While still in high school he met
Jean-Bernard Pouy, future author of
noir novels such as
Le Poulpe, who inspired Dantec to take an interest in
noir fiction. In the late 1970s, after graduating from college, Dantec put together a band called "État d'urgence" ("State of Emergency") one of the first
French punk acts. In 1977 the band changed its name to "Artefact", but kept the
punk ideology. Artefact is a concept-band, influenced by
Suicide,
Devo,
Kraftwerk,
Talking Heads and
Public Image Limited. Dantec invented the concept of "Hard-Muzak" to define the sound of his band, as a mix of
Industrial music and
disco making the band the French equivalent of
No-Wave bands from New York, and English ones from the
post-punk. He pursued a career in Artefact (until the band's breakup in 1981) while working as a
copywriter in the
advertising industry.
Cyberpunk Dantec began writing seriously in the 1990s. His first novel,
La Sirène rouge ("The Red Siren"), was published in 1993 as a part of the
Série noire collection. The novel won the
813 award for best crime novel. His second novel,
Les Racines du mal ("The Roots of Evil"), appeared in 1995 and borders on
cyberpunk fiction. The novel was successful commercially and was awarded the
Prix de l'Imaginaire. His classically cyberpunk
novella Là où tombent les anges ("Where the Angels fall"), appeared the same year, in an extra edition of
Le Monde. He worked with
Richard Pinhas and
Norman Spinrad for the group
Heldon, under the project "Schizotrope" for 3 albums, including a North American Tour in 1999. Dantec and his family relocated to
Québec in 1998, where he wrote his third novel
Babylon Babies, which further explores the themes of decadence and apocalypse initially developed in
Là où tombent les anges.
Babylon Babies is influenced partly by Dantec's interests in twentieth century French philosopher
Gilles Deleuze, and
shamanism.
Controversial writings Le Théâtre des opérations, journal métaphysique et polémique ("The Theatre of Operations, a Metaphysical and Polemical Journal") appeared in 2000, and is a polemical diary. Dantec followed this up in 2001 with
Laboratoire de catastrophe générale ("Laboratory of General Catastrophes"). In both of these Dantec was influenced by French novelist and poet
Léon Bloy's diary, and especially by Bloy's 1905
Belluaires et porchers ("Gladiators and swineherds"). In his works, Dantec attempts to inventory the
nihilisms of the 20th century. Inspired by Léon Bloy, he draws a cruel portrait of the vanities in the French literary milieu. The diary also mixes Dantec's poetry, criticisms on rock music, essays on literature, technology,
genetics, philosophy and politics. These diaries also explore the author's rising interest in Christianity.
Christian-Futurism Villa Vortex - Liber Mundi, I in 2003 opens a trilogy of novels - though its third volume would never be written before Dantec's death - interconnecting metaphysical research (
Esotericism), technology and the post-human, in a new formal approach. With this book Dantec is possibly the first French writer to acknowledge the new era opened by the events surrounding
9/11 in a narrative. The third volume of his journal, following
Laboratoire de catastrophe générale, was published by
Éditions Albin Michel in 2007. Dantec wrote for the conservative French-language Canadian magazine
Égards. The novel
Cosmos Inc, was published in August 2005 by his new publishing house Albin Michel, the first volume of another trilogy Dantec would never finish before he died.
Film adaptations The first film adaptation based on the works of Dantec,
The Red Siren directed by
Olivier Megaton, was released in August 2002. A film adaptation of
Babylon Babies, the most
cyberpunk of Dantec's novels, has been produced under the direction of
Mathieu Kassovitz as
Babylon A.D., featuring
Vin Diesel in the role of Toorop.
Dantec in English His novel
Babylon Babies was to be translated into English by Semio-text(e) in September 2005. In May 2006 at the Franco/Irish Literary Festival he made a bilingual conference "ICH BIN EIN DUBLINER", under the theme "Modern technology, its impact on the way we Live Together" discussing metaphysical and political positions In August 2006
Grande Jonction, the second part of his "Christian-Futurism (Christian eschatology)" trilogy was published by Albin Michel.
Del Rey Books released an English version of
Cosmos Incorporated translated by
Tina Kover in 2008 and an English version of
Grande Jonction (
Grand Junction) by the same translator in 2009. == Work ==