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No Time to Sit. Unlike many other successful men who were "poor, very poor" in childhood, Beuve-Méry has continued to lead a life of austerity. He lives modestly in Paris, and to fuel the heating system of a two-room chalet he rents near the Swiss border, Madame Beuve-Méry fetches sacks of sawdust in the family's economy-class Citroen. At Le Monde's daily story conferences, his habit was to stand; so did his editors. "We're in a hurry to get to work," he once explained in his soft voice. "There isn't time to sit."
Beuve-Méry's successor is Jacques Fauvet, 55, who stepped up from editor in chief. The author of half a dozen books on French domestic politics, Fauvet is just as interested as Beuve-Méry in reaching the intellectual elite. There will be no changes in Le Monde, he says. "The emphasis will be on continuity." Yet, in view of the personal strength that Beuve-Méry brought to it, it is only natural that some have raised the question: Can Le Monde survive without him? One might just as well ask: Can France survive without De Gaulle? The answer to both questions is, of course, yes. But neither will ever be quite the same.