L’indulgence du soleil et de l’automne par by Patrick Besson

Abstract

Reviews 261 is apparent in the glee both men take in anagrams. To the question,“que devient Estella Ribstone?” (73), the answer is “Bret Easton Ellis” (74). Given this delight, American readers will wonder at the name“Vlad Eisinger,”since for most of us the only Vlad we are familiar with is Vlad the Impaler. This curiosity is only piqued by the novel’s last sentence, an exchange between Dan and Vlad: “tu as des nouvelles de Vlad Eisinger?” (287), demonstrating that at times a good con is an intriguing pleasure. Florida State University William Cloonan Besson, Patrick. L’indulgence du soleil et de l’automne. Paris: Fayard, 2015. ISBN 9782 -213-62965-0. Pp. 112. 13 a. Besson is an author who does not take the logistics of our existence too seriously. Human history serves as a draft that can be deconstructed and reassembled, and that goes also for our everyday life. The result is often funny, at least noteworthy, as can be read in Besson’s new collection of nine short stories. The title of the small volume is a quotation from a letter by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who—as we learn from Besson—had a son with a French woman from Perpignan.Why not? There is nothing wrong with rewriting history as long as this revision provides us with some matière à rire (to quote the title of a book by Raymond Devos). The following seven texts serve as good examples of Besson’s sense of humor: the comical effect is often reached with the help of the bizarre, grotesque, and eerie. However, like in a classical comedy, the stories tend toward a certain moral or a lesson of the human condition. “La traductrice sikh” describes the vanity of a less than mediocre author and his strange metamorphosis.“Jean-Paul et Rihanna” presents a philosophy professor with a famous first name and the singer Rihanna. The story conveys the following idea: when two people have the same dream, the dream becomes reality. The author creates a play with two realities: dream reality and the reality experienced by the mind when one is awake. Dreams can become real—in this case a wishful dream of erotic content dreamt by two people at the same time. Comparable to a professional stand-up comedian, the author is in“La joueuse russe”constantly working to deliver the comic effect, as can be evidenced in the quick, yet solid construction of facts and action, i.e., in his choice of style, play on words, and provocative fantasy including the grotesque. “Tous ses amants s’appelaient Patrick” presents the case of Sarah Wittgenstein (obviously named after another philosopher) and her harsh revenge for an act of rape she suffered many years before. “Singto” is basically a joke about gender identity. “Le voyage des comédiens”makes reference to a historic event which took place in March 1943 when a delegation of French movie stars accepted the invitation of the Nazi regime to come to Berlin.“La nuit de Cancún”is a fascinating work of magical realism about the Mexican death cult Santa Muerte. The last and longest contribution to this collection describes the unusually twisted and complicated identity crisis of a man who eventually finds out who his real parents are and what he had done many years ago to a playmate his age (“Le marché des enfants-rouges”). It seems that the author wanted to outdo himself in the closing story in regard to his presentation of the unusual and unforeseen. Besson’s volume offers a fine collection of reading material, to enjoy not just in the sunshine or in the fall. Ocean County College, NJ (emeritus) Gert Niers Blais, Marie-Claire. Aux jardins des Acacias. Paris: Seuil, 2014. ISBN 978-2-02116642 -2. Pp. 272. 18,50 a. This author astounded the literary world when she won the Médicis at the age of twenty-seven for Une saison dans la vie d’Emmanuel. Now living in Key West, and in her seventies, she focuses on a story of redemption. In a forty-two page interview at the end of the novel, this French Canadian explains: “Je me...