Eleven short stories.
Eleven shots right in the jaw. Eleven wake up calls. Violent, intense, lyrical, the subjects range from steroid martyr Ben Johnson to bitter officers curdling with jealousy. 9'79" in particular is like a long thumping riff on hunger, ambition, and the limits of the flesh.
Other characters in other stories howl into full blooded life: petty theives, scheming military officers, playing their roles in Belgrade, Vilnius and a shadowy, muscular Paris far removed from postcard clichés.
You'll enjoy this book even if, like me, you've got a handle on French but aren't necessarily fluent.
(Plus, she says it's good, and she has impeccable taste.)
Publisher's web site
Available from:
Fnac
The French Amazon
Tim, I chanced upon that,between translations of Mark Twain (short stories) for Jean-François at Omnibus,and translations of Medevedeva, to improve my own feminist record — although I may have been mistaken on that score,since she's a little slutty to win me allthe votes there.
ReplyDeleteNice surprise,pal. Didn't even knowyou already had it!
Unless you're after Solange, bien sûr !!!
You're welcome!
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes: of course I am.
But the photo is really about old-fashioned Marketing. Put a pretty girl next to anything, and you generate more interest.
(Good luck with the feminists.)
I'm not sure she has an "impeccable taste" (far from me & too superficial)
ReplyDeletebut I will read the book…
She likes M. Marignac's oeuvre, which speaks well of her.
ReplyDeleteI like Stello and it is rude of Anonymous to put her down. She is jealous as usual!
ReplyDeleteMy dear,in order to make my own self aware that I have an "œuvre" and get ready forthe Académie Française, I grew a beard for about three weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe result was so completely unconvincing of my soon to be wisdom and dignity that I shaved it.
It's harder for me to talk about my "œuvre", but I feel cleaner.
That's too bad about the beard.
ReplyDeleteNow the deal with the Pleiade might be shaky.
And rumor had it that they were preparing a spot in the Patheon for you, next to where they're going to plant Camus. But, without the beard, it makes things very doubtful.
You ARE still smoking the pipe, aren't you? That should help. Yeah. Stick with the pipe, get an old ratty tweed jacket, and you could stil make it yet.