Books: Editor’s picks: Pierre Lemaitre, couple dance, torpedo stories…
Pierre Lemaitre, couples dance, torpedo stories…
The 1952 serialist zoomed in on “Silence and fury”. Also to discover: fantastic short stories and two picture books.
Pierre Lemaitre, in the fifth volume of his extensive historical frescoes of the century in France. Starting with “The children of disaster”, it will reach to the 90s, in the tenth volume.
credit: Bruno Levy
Levy / DR
Novels, children’s books, comics, short stories… Discover book releases that have caught the attention of journalists in the Culture section.
Lemaitre reigned for a century
There is a worker inside Pierre Lemaitre, in the noblest sense of the term, that of the worker who processes and refines history, smoothing out the crooked until his memory is scratched. After the trilogy “Children of Disaster” in the interwar period, here he is in 1952. Back to the career with the quadrilogy that began with “Le grand monde”, in the middle of the crossing of the Trente Glorieuses, “Le silence et galit” plows the heroic which passage of the social novel.
The strength of the novelist Lemaitre’s style suits the filmmakers, see “Colors of the fire” directed by Clovis Cornillac in 2022.
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Because apart from “leafing” in the manner of Balzac or Zola, the writer aims to return to the great genres of literature. Do not think that he swears about the quibbles of law and other laws that began to format the republic of France, Lemaitre put all this knowledge between the sheets of the terrible Pelletier family. There will be boxers in love, criminal lovers, inventions at the Household Arts Fair, an eternal loser from Poulidor or a certain engineer Buttons. And even a cat Joseph.
With a more complete clarity and already identified in previous episodes, among the not really typical bourgeois, women in 5e the volume seems scary. See the famous bitch of Geneviève, bad wife of Jean dit Bouboule. As for the equally powerful Hélène, pregnant by accident, she manages alone for a while the right to abortion debate maker, turned reporter, specifically covering the loss of the village of Tignes, drowned for the construction of a hydroelectric dam.
The photographer is also interested in feminine hygiene – such as a Françoise Giroud in the past, who was surprised by an article in the magazine “Elle” on the cleanliness of French women. Said like that, it’s like an old gazette piling facts into crowded characters on yellow paper that smells like dry ink. One fact attracts another, like the thread of a ball is pulled to knit it. But the jersey keeps you warm, designed to last up to volume 10.
Pierre Lemaitre
“Silence and Fury”
Ed. Calmann-Levy, 592 p.
News from elsewhere
Obsolescence The word immediately brings to mind programmed covering electronic devices. In these short stories from the Prix de l’Ailleurs 2022, however, obsolescence refers more to the frailty of living things, whether human or bred. This is what makes these stories so touching. Whether it’s the last days of extraterrestrial beings envisioned by first prize winner Magali Bossi, waking up male or female depending on the day, the suffering of a future mother preparing her baby to be born on a radioactive world, the “hundred-and-twenty-somethings” who can no longer take their lives, or these precarious delivery men whose jobs are threatened by drones. There are so many texts to thrill, ponder or even hope in the face of the world to come.
“2022 Elsewhere Prize. Obsolescence”
Together
Ed. Propeller Sayang, 250 p.
dance life
“Duo mambo” spins the metaphor of escaping time, to the rhythm of a frantic dance.
Ed. THE JOY OF READING
Dedicated to all the couples of its designer, Wei Middag, an illustrator based in Strasbourg, “Duo mambo” revolves around the metaphor of escaping time, to the rhythm of a frantic dance. He and she – we will never know their names – first learned to move their hips on their own, as a child then as a teenager. One day, their tempos crossed, for a languid pas de deux. First emotion, first thrill: passion. Then fusions, variations, disappointments too. By repeating the same movements, the rhythm that fueled them is lost.
“Duet mambo”, excerpt.
Ed. The Joy of Reading
Throughout the pages, the figures created by the two characters show different stages of their life together. Sober, Aurèle Alima’s text suggests the grim passage of years, which Middag subtly depicts in black and white, in India ink. The characters gradually age, the bodies lose their flexibility, bend. Hair becomes white or thinner. Death invites itself to the dance. The back cover of this little gem is stamped young talent. This is reasonable. A real favorite.
“Duet mambo”, excerpt.
Ed. The Joy of Reading
“Mambo Duo”
Aurele Alima and Wei Middag
Ed. The Joy of Reading, 80 p.
Latin American princess
Biancaflor, famous princess of Latin American folklore, refutes her father’s predictions.
Ed. Rue de Sevres
Editor-in-chief of “The Paris Review”, figure of political comics, Nadja Spiegelman above all has a sacred sense of humor, inherited from her famous father, Art. In his reinterpretation of fairy tales, American torpedoes shoot clichés of irresistible gags, advising adults to adapt them in their own way by sharing these are the youngest. Here, Biancaflor, famous princess of Latin American legend, refutes the prophecies of her father, a formidable ogre challenged by a somewhat foolish but loving prince. Smart enough not to bully the egos of these men into struggle, the cute one manages to give fate a little help. Directed by Spanish cartoonist Sergio García Sanchez, this album is the first favorite of the year!
“Biancaflor”
Nadja Spiegelman
Ed. Rue de Sèvres, 48p.
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