Marmande currently serves as the director of a modern literature laboratory (Littérature au présent) at University of Paris VII: Denis Diderot.
[1] Marmande graduated in 1966 from the École Normale Supérieure in Saint-Cloud.
A jazz critic, Marmande also plays double bass and has recorded with the Jac Berrocal Group.
[2] He was a contributor to Jazz Magazine from 1971 to 2000, which he also helped illustrate from 1976 to 1994.
Since 2006, he has had a regular column in Le Monde, writing on topics such as jazz, bullfighting, and literature.