Vie de Gérard Fulmard par Jean Echenoz
2020; American Association of Teachers of French; Volume: 94; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/tfr.2020.0319
ISSN2329-7131
Autores Tópico(s)Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender
ResumoReviewed by: Vie de Gérard Fulmard par Jean Echenoz William Cloonan Echenoz, Jean. Vie de Gérard Fulmard. Minuit, 2020. ISBN 978-2-7073-4587-5. Pp. 235. Gérard Fulmard is a former airline steward fired for unexplained dishonest activities. He lives in his deceased mother's small Paris apartment with little money and fewer prospects. However, fortune smiles on him when a portion of a Russian satellite breaks free and falls to earth where it careens through his landlord's window and cuts the man in half. This stroke of luck puts his overdue rent payments on hold, at least for a while. For reasons unexplained his psychiatrist, Dr Bardot, puts him in contact with la Fédération populaire indépendante, a minor political party whose positions are leftist, conservative, or centrist, depending upon circumstances. The head of the party, Franck Terrail, has just engineered the kidnapping of his wife, Nicole Tourneur, also a party luminary, because of his passion for Louise Tourneur, the fruit of one of Nicole's many previous marriages. Gérard is hired by the FPI, but to do what is unclear, and finally it does not matter, since he is caught admiring the lovely Louise swimming naked in her pool, a discovery that leaves him battered by her bodyguards. If this seems a tad complicated, it is simplicity itself, given what follows. A picture appears showing Nicole dead, but then she resurrects in time to be deliberately abandoned by friends in the middle of Paris. Her thinking, if that is le mot juste, is that the reappearance of an influential political operative like herself will create torrents of publicity for herself and her party. However, this proves not to be the case. She was never that important and, in any case, she is now yesterday's news. Meanwhile, other members of the FPI, the Mozzigonacci faction, have determined that Franck is a liability because he wants Louise to replace her mother in the party hierarchy. The Mozzigonacci blackmail Gérard into becoming a would-be assassin. Then plans change dramatically as the delicious Louise really disappears, courtesy of a hungry shark. Now Franck must be kept alive, so a hitman is dispatched to kill Gérard instead. In the novel's last scene Gérard is dying in a pool of blood on the Pont Mirabeau. This novel makes no serious commentary on French politics, and, as a parody of the roman policier genre, it seems a bit tired. It is mostly an exercise in style. Echenoz's style. The [End Page 263] characters have the psychological depth of comic book figures. Logic only makes an occasional appearance. The tone never varies despite the plethora of startling, often outrageous events, and sections of Paris, in this instance the area around la rue Erlanger in the sixteenth arrondissement, are singled out for a scrutiny vaguely associated with the novel's overt themes. Thus, in a novel that features violence, much is made of a murder and suicide that took place in this street. Echenoz displays his literary wares in this novel, which is fun to read, but not among his best. William Cloonan Florida State University, emeritus Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French
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