La première pierre par Pierre Jourde (review)

by whites. The various social positions are indicated by language differences, for the text uses not only standard international French and rural Quebec French but also literary English and thickly-accented vulgar English (both translated by the author in footnotes). The novel’s“histoires sont comme des arbres”(52) as they branch out and intersect, but a little pruning might have helped make the story more shapely. There really is such a thing as too much information, and there can be too many elements in a novel just as in a film script: as the imagined Paul warns Milo,“on ne voudrait pas que le public commence à s’ennuyer” (259). In Lignes de faille (2006), Huston made intergenerational conflict interesting; in this novel, unfortunately, she does not find a rhythm that would help it dance. College of San Mateo (CA) Susan Petit Jourde, Pierre. La première pierre. Paris: Gallimard, 2013. ISBN 978-2-07-014215-6. Pp. 190. 17,90 a. In Pays perdu (2003), Jourde praised the Auvergne countryside and its inhabitants while telling the history of his family and its ties to a place that was instrumental in developing his identity. La première pierre focuses on the reaction of the inhabitants of Lussaud following Pays perdu’s publication. Jourde gives a vivid account of the events that took place from the day he came back to the village following the publication of his first book. Contrary to his expectations, the villagers reacted negatively to the book, viewing the representation of their village and its inhabitants as an intrusion into their lifestyle. Jourde’s description of their personal secrets and instances of their lives were experienced as indiscretions that made a mockery of their values and lives. The anger and betrayal they felt led to the unleashing of primitive reactions that resulted in a series of violent events such as xenophobic insults upon Jourde’s arrival in the village and culminating in his children being stoned; his son was hurt and even bled. The narrator of La première pierre addresses himself in the second person, calling himself “pauvre naïf petit bonhomme” for being unprepared for the reaction of the villagers. Jourde narrates in chronological order the misunderstanding and circumstances that followed his arrival in the village after the publication of the book that he considered a labor of love and a tribute to his ancestors and fellow townspeople. Along with the events of the attack, for which the aggressors were found guilty in court, the narrator traces another story of his difficulty in coming to terms with what had happened almost ten years earlier. The trial that followed the attack could not bring him peace. What happened has consumed him. This writing journey allows the narrator to come to terms with the fact that he would always be a foreigner to Lussaud and its inhabitants, even though he had considered them his own people and it was the place his ancestors lived for three centuries. Jourde breaks the silence through the narrator’s voice and takes possession and control of his life and the events that took 270 FRENCH REVIEW 88.1 Reviews 271 place in Lussaud through words. Literature presents the complexity of life as an exile, showing that nobody can prevent him from being part of the place whose beauty moves him yet whose intense violence hurts him at the same time. St. John’s University (NY) Zoe Petropoulou Lacroix, Jean-Yves. Haute époque. Paris: Albin Michel, 2013. ISBN 978-2-226-249807 . Pp. 158. 15 a. In this very odd tale, the protagonist, who is also the first-person narrator, is a second-hand book dealer who becomes obsessed with the life and career of Guy Debord. The latter was a left-wing author, filmmaker, political philosopher, and activist who is thought to have been one of the prime instigators of the May 1968 student riots. The creator of the movement and journal Internationale Situationniste, Debord developed the concept that life in the capitalist society is a constant spectacle where everyone engages in role-playing. He committed suicide in 1994. The narrator makes it his mission to gather all the texts, manuscripts...