La vie automatique par Christian Oster (review)

l’alourdissent et nuisent à sa progression. Néanmoins, grâce à ces leçons d’histoire le lecteur acquiert un grand nombre de connaissances sur ce pays captivant. Fairfield University (FL) Marie-Agnès Sourieau Oster, Christian. La vie automatique. Paris: L’Olivier, 2017. ISBN 978-2-8236-08786 . Pp. 144. It all starts with some zucchini, which Jean, the narrator, did not even order.After receiving the delivery by mistake, he puts the vegetables over a low flame and goes outside. A few moments later his kitchen is on fire. However, instead of extinguishing the blaze, he hurriedly packs a few items in a suitcase and leaves. Thus begins the novel, in which, as in many of Oster’s works, we find a pessimistic yet lighthearted middleaged male protagonist who suddenly decides to leave his life behind in search of a new existence. What this new existence may be remains uncertain. Jean is tired of reality; he is growing old, his girlfriend has left him, and his acting career, after he starred many years ago in several critically acclaimed although obscure auteur films, has fizzled to minor roles in poorly written television police dramas. Even his baker does not recognize him. But, following the narrator’s logic:“Qui dit valise dit hôtel. [...] Qui dit hôtel, de là d’où je pars, dit Paris, c’est plus simple”(13).And so Jean soon checks into a hotel near the Gare Montparnasse under an assumed name.This highlights what Oster labeled “la vie en automate” in an interview : Jean is willing to let the flow of life carry him along. On the train to Paris, he notes: “Le fait d’être véhiculé [...] m’a donné à voir non les choses en mouvement mais le défilement des choses. [...] La vie passait, donc, et je l’ai regardée passer”(24). Later he discusses “la vie que j’entendais mener ou plus exactement poursuivre” (60). This passivity eventually leads Jean to accept an invitation to move into the home of France Rivière, a famous actress from the 1960s, after meeting her by chance in the subway. Burdened by uncertain future acting prospects and by the overall dour reality of his life, he decides to explore its potential fictitiousness. This opportunity is provided through Rivière’s son, Charles, who was just released from a mental hospital and whom Rivière asks Jean to surveil. Soon the narrator, applying the knowledge gleaned from his experience in police dramas, is trailing Charles through the streets of Paris, including a taxi chase kicked off by the command“follow that car!”:“Depuis le temps que j’attends ça, m’a dit le chauffeur en se retournant, la mine réjouie, et il m’a semblé cette fois que j’avais récemment entendu la même phrase dans un film”(76). The trail leads him to Japan and back, and to a potentially different outlook on life through his relationships with Charles and his mother. Although dark—“Méfiez-vous de l’enthousiasme,” warns Charles (97)—like many of his other texts, Oster’s engaging 250 FRENCH REVIEW 91.3 Reviews 251 new novel is filled with impassive, irony-laced prose and wry humor. Even if one wishes to follow the current of life, it can lead you to worthwhile destinations. Bradley University (IL) Alexander Hertich Pennac, Daniel. Le cas Malaussène I. Ils m’ont menti. Paris: Gallimard, 2017. ISBN 978-2-07-014231-6. Pp. 596. After an eighteen-year hiatus, the Malaussène clan returns with their surreal world of linguistic humor and social satire. Tribal brother and uncle Benjamin, who raised the children on bedtime stories that would be unbelievable were they not the truth, is now suffering from empty nest syndrome. Still working as a professional scapegoat, Benjamin is charged by his publishing house with shielding a “true story” novelist whose family has attempted to murder him after learning of his revelations. The isolation of Benjamin’s country home gives both characters a moment of peace; the author to finish his work safe from harm, Benjamin to ruminate on the passage of time. Trying to stay out of trouble...