In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

stolen manuscript,Derrida is murdered on the Cornell campus and Searle subsequently commits suicide. As the investigation broadens, a mysterious Logos Club becomes increasingly important. This is a debating society of sorts, whose Grand Master is Umberto Eco who, due to his own rhetorical effusions, once had an opponent urinate on his leg. The Logos Club is a place where verbal dexterity occasionally triumphs over content—Socrate“est un peu le Elvis de la rhétorique”(198)—yet the jousting is not really friendly. A loser risks having a finger chopped off, or, if the stakes are high enough, a more significant part of the anatomy. As the police enquiry lurches toward its conclusion, it becomes increasingly apparent that the culprits are among Barthes’s friends, and while nobody is arrested, a rough type of justice is done.Although the fate of the purloined manuscript remains unclear, it seems to have figured in Mitterrand’s surprise victory over Giscard in 1981, and in the blossoming American academic career of a former male prostitute. Binet’s novel also explores the blurred line between fiction and reality—“I think I’m trapped in a novel” (348)—but the initial reading is simply a prolonged experience of wicked delight. Florida State University, emeritus William Cloonan Castillon,Claire. Les pêchers.Paris: L’Olivier,2015.ISBN 978-2-82-360790-1.Pp.203. 17,50 a. This novel explores the punitive nature of romantic love, from the perspectives of three women in sentimentally-challenging situations. The phrase“la guerre des sexes” is often used to describe the thematic of Castillon’s novels. Indeed, this novel finds some of its characters in conflict with people of the opposite sex. They are often in love with people unattainable, recalling Flaubert’s concept of bovarysme. Thirteen chapters are told by Tamara, the first of three pécheresses (supposedly sinners because they love) and narrators, and wife to the class-conscious doctor, Claude. Eight chapters are recounted through the eyes of Claude’s materialistic ex-wife, Aimée, who now lives with Quick, Aimée’s former lover. Lastly, nine are told by Esther (“Terra”), daughter to Aimée and Claude. The sufferings of Tamara, pining for Quick, and of Aimée, preferring Claude to Quick, are compounded by jealousy. Sartre’s Huis clos comes to mind, in that these four characters punish each other through their relationships, if not purposefully, carelessly. Not only is there a guerre des sexes, but there are also civil wars among men, and among women. The exclusivity of romantic relationships, as well as their ability to confer social status, can be cruel to interested outsiders. Tamara faces a third challenge as she feels trapped in her marriage to Claude, evoking Emma Bovary’s feelings of enfermement in nineteenth-century France. Comprehensively, some of the interpersonal situations described in this novel overlap with many other stories of romantic disappointment, but Castillon’s depiction of the process by which four characters, in effect, exchange romantic partners among each other accentuates 230 FRENCH REVIEW 90.1 Reviews 231 the tensions inherent to this tale of relational loss. It could be argued that this scenario is implausible, but its depiction is worthwhile as a thought experiment. Moreover, through her portrayal of Esther, Castillon is to be praised for calling attention to the position of single people. This intelligent teenager has romantic feelings for Clarence, who is rude and dismissive to her, and who dotes on the attractive and self-confident Priscille as the three make a film together. Esther concedes that she is disadvantaged in la guerre des sexes because beauty usually triumphs over intelligence in capturing the affections of men. Her circumstances are not as dramatic as those of Tamara or Aimée, yet her predicament, especially as a daughter already blamed for the difficulties of her father’s love life, could be the subject of an entire novel. Is there not violence in the way single people are sometimes stigmatized? Esther’s mother, Aimée, grieving her marriage to Claude, tells her that she is ill-fated for love (184–85). Although it is disconcerting to ponder the extent of the cruelties that can...

pdf

Share