Le voyant par Jérôme Garcin (review)

Reviews 261 quand on n’a rien” (59). The book’s final tale imagines a couple’s life together as a series of physical breakdowns, of a march toward a near-oblivion in which“on existera, c’est tout” (151)—after which, we turn the page to see, in “Remerciements,” Émond thanks his parents—for the second time in the book (153). Even in their obvious darkness, these characters and situations suggest a deeply empathic storytelling impulse. University of Wisconsin, Madison Ritt Deitz Garcin, Jérôme. Le voyant. Paris: Gallimard, 2015. ISBN 978-2-07-014164-7. Pp. 185. 17,50 a. This novel centers on the rather incredible life of Jacques Lusseyran, a man whose relatively brief existence (1924–1971) was framed by two terrible accidents. At a very early age,Lusseyran became blind as the result of a fall,but this disability did not prevent him from pursuing his education and eventually acquiring a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of French literature. While this achievement proved of little professional value in France, where the Vichy government banned handicapped students from taking the exam for the École normale supérieure, it helped Lusseyran to develop after the war a quite respectable career in American academia where he taught and lectured at several universities. Yet the most extraordinary aspect of his story unfolded during the Occupation.Although completely unable to see, he managed to direct a resistance cell in Paris. Eventually he was betrayed, arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Buchenwald. A blind man in a death camp, he somehow managed to survive. Shortly after returning to Paris he married the first of his three wives. His third one, Marie, was driving him to the Nantes airport to pick up an American friend when, for reasons unknown, she lost control of the car and both were killed. Lusseyran published some books and essays during his lifetime, and left behind a good number of critical and creative works. While Lusseyran’s experiences and achievements are impressive, Le voyant is not. Perhaps because Garcin obviously has a great deal of admiration and respect for his subject, his treatment of Lusseyran’s life constantly borders on hagiography. The blind artist/intellectual and Resistance hero emerges as just too perfect to be believable. The man is always modest, yet a reader has the lingering suspicion that he seemed to have orchestrated both his disability and wartime activities to appeal to an American audience as “The Blind Hero of the French Resistance.” Of his three wives, the first two were clearly strong figures, yet no effort is made to help the reader understand why these marriages failed. Most frustrating is Garcin’s treatment of what seems the most enigmatic aspect of Lusseyran’s life. In the immediate aftermath of the war, this very intelligent man and his equally insightful first wife became bewitched by a guru,Georges Saint-Bonnet,who made a good living dispensing such bromides as “Ce qui coule de source, coule bien” (143). Lusseyran became his follower and his wife his mistress.Why two such perceptive people would fall for SaintBonnet ’s mumbo-jumbo is fascinating, particularly in the context of the postwar interest in spiritualism. The Lusseyrans were not alone in their quest for new sources of meaning in war-ravaged Europe. Yet, except for a slightly ironic treatment of this period in his subject’s life,Garcin does little with this intriguing issue.Jacques Lusseyran was a heroic, strong-willed and complicated man. Le voyant does not do him justice. Florida State University William Cloonan Gracq, Julien. Les terres du couchant. Paris: José Corti, 2014. ISBN 978-2-7143-11337 . Pp. 258. 20 a. Il arrive des confins du Royaume, persistantes malgré la volonté politique de ne pas y donner prise, et par une forme particulière de négligence qui ressemble à un doux narcotique pour un peuple fatigué, des rumeurs d’invasion djoungare. À BrégaVieille , capitale de la Terre du couchant, c’est à peine si la caste régnante a pris officiellement note de la manière dont ont été reçus deux émissaires envoyés secrètement au-delà des frontières (les deux hommes ont fini empal...