In front of his 8-year-old daughter who asked him if we were all going to die, the author was cowardly: "I said no. Then I told myself that I was going to try to justify this no. Frédéric Beigbeder went on a hunt for information, from the Georges Pompidou European Hospital to the Harvard Research Center, to a Geneva clinic specializing in genetic manipulation and cell reprogramming, and a medical center in Paris. Jerusalem virtuoso of DNA. Sequencing of his genome, laser perfusion in Austria ... he did everything he could, except the transfer of the contents of his brain to hard disk for reimplantation on an android. The result: an intense journey in the future to the present, with a background of personal life, love and fatherhood included. "My fear of death is ridiculous. Maybe, but we can share it.

Marie Claire: What would you do with an endless life?

I know that this obsession with immortality may seem grotesque, but think that then we would have no social security to finance and that we could all borrow over two hundred years to buy large apartments.

Joking aside, are you scared?

Yes, at age 50 I thought I was going to the wall. The excesses of nightlife, the frantic race in the media, etc. I resigned from Canal and the direction of Lui magazine, and I took a step aside to settle in the Basque Country.

The desire to last was going to make you change the blood to extend your stay on earth?

I was curious about this kind of detox, practiced by Vladimir Putin, Uma Thurman and, it is said, Keith Richards, Rolling Stones ... Curious, and newly father, with the desire to see my daughters grow longer. So, yes, I did improve my blood in Austria, intravenously guided by optical fiber laser, which strengthens the body.

This hyper-neo-Beigbeder is born of your concern for paternity?

Yes. Without revealing the end of the book, what matters most to me today is transmission, more than emissions or even transmutation. Which is still a good hope of biology.

Finally, a little happy bet: when do you die?

To not be too greedy and stick to the current statistics on life expectancy: September 21, 2043, my 78 years.

"A life without end" by Frédéric Beigbeder, ed. Grasset, € 20.90.