Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Avis non autorisés… par Françoise Hardy

2016; American Association of Teachers of French; Volume: 90; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tfr.2016.0255

2329-7131

Gert Niers,

French Literature and Critical Theory

Hardy, Françoise. Avis non autorisés… Paris: Équateurs, 2015. ISBN 978-2-84990396 -4. Pp. 250. 19 a. Since her beginnings as a singer during the early 1960s (Tous les garçons et les filles), Hardy has been a cultural icon in France and other European countries, especially in Germany where she performed free of accent in the language of the country. Slender and long-haired, she also added appearances in movies to her artistic repertoire, particularly in England. In the new millennium she came out with book publications in various literary genres: novel, autobiography, and non-fiction. Her latest book bears an ironic title, as if the author had failed to get authorization to publish her opinion on various controversial subjects. This volume is a collection of opinion pieces on such subjects as medicine, politics, environment, literature, fashion, astrology, and spirituality. One finds bits and pieces of autobiography—always fascinating as the description of facts only the author can verify. It is, therefore, a very subjective book which one can read under various aspects, even as a counterpart to her husband’s flippant self-presentation (Jacques Dutronc’s Pensées et répliques, 2000). The woman whom we learned to know some 50 years ago as the singer of poetic and melancholic chansons presents herself now as a critical observer of government and other institutions . However, it is difficult to identify her as a conservative, despite her criticism of the current French president and her appreciation of his predecessor with whose wife, the singer Carla Bruni, she maintains a friendly relationship. The various subjects the author touches upon also include literature, both English and French. Her interest in modern French classics is selective. Sartre, Camus, Simone de Beauvoir do not mean much to her, but she appreciates Proust, Colette, Céline. The contemporary authors with whom she had personal encounters are Patrick Modiano and Michel Houellebecq. Astrology and spirituality are two subjects which seem to be of special importance to her. The research into these subjects, about which she has published before, indicate the earnestness of this author about the human existence, particularly of aspects which have not yet been sufficiently covered (metaphysics used to be a term for these philosophical activities). It is, however, always interesting that the author also finds time and space to deal with less important issues, such as fashion, television, and Salut les copains. Ocean County College (NJ), emeritus Gert Niers LaGuardia,David P., and CathyYandell,eds.Memory and Community in SixteenthCentury France. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4724-5527-2. Pp. 267. £65. Through the study of a variety of texts, including personal correspondences, memoirs, legal proceedings, pamphlets and poetry, the fourteen essays in this volume 220 FRENCH REVIEW 90.1 ...