À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie

À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie (English: "To the friend who did not save my life") is a novel by Hervé Guibert, first published by Gallimard in 1990.

The book is considered to be a work of autofiction,[1] as although it clearly mimics the last years of Guibert's own life, names are changed and it makes no claim to be truthful to real events.

The story begins by building towards the first-person protagonist's discovery that he has AIDS; realizing this, he monitors his progress, including his physical decline in the grip of the disease, often with great precision (for example, he frequently notes his exact T-cell count).

The "friend who (does) not save his life" is an American named Bill who tells him that he knows of a scientist who has found a cure for the disease and can get him in the test group.

The protagonist talks about at least two prominent friends in the book, not least 'Muzil' (who represents Michel Foucault) who also suffers and dies from AIDS.