Suite à un accident grave de voyageur by Éric Fottorino (review)

Reviews 285 the star system that encouraged the public to follow the exploits of their favorites. Dauncey does not cover individual races or stars through the years but does focus on a few legends such as Raymond Poulidor and Jacques Anquetil in the 1960s and 1970s and on Jeannie Longo, whose individual ambition and feminist attitude incited controversy. Dauncey’s book is encyclopedic in its coverage of the place of bicycling in French society from the 1860s to the present. He has exhaustively researched how cycling fared as a sport, a profession, and a spectator pastime during this period that covers three wars on French soil, changes in transportation unimagined when the bicycle was invented, and remarkable refinements in the bicycle itself. He carefully documents the activities, views, and rivalries involving bicycle clubs and newspapers. This book provides a close look at a part of French culture that provides a fruitful perspective on the whole, and is a wonderfully enjoyable read as well. University of Massachusetts, Amherst Jean-Pierre Berwald Fottorino, Éric. Suite à un accident grave de voyageur. Paris: Gallimard, 2013. ISBN 978-2-07-014064-0. Pp. 64. 8,20 a. How does one react to the terrible tragedy of someone who decides to take his/her life by throwing him/herself in front of a speeding RER train? Fottorino provides a haunting analysis of the contemporary phenomenon in French society whereby public transportation users have become oddly indifferent to the“suite à un accident grave de voyageur”announcement.Citing Camus,“Ne pas nommer,c’était nier notre humanité” (12), he is able to stress aptly the refusal to use the word ‘suicide’ and the preference for silence. The tragedy thus lies not just in the loss of life but more meaningfully in the anonymity of death that is surrounded by the annoyance of delayed travelers: “L’échelle des priorités s’imposait dans sa crudité, dans sa cruauté. Le suicide sur les voies n’est pas une vie perdue. C’est du temps perdu”(26). The focus is placed on how to clean up the mess and have the trains return to their regular schedule in as expedient a manner as possible:“Rétablir la circulation. Le mort n’est pas une priorité puisqu’on ne peut plus rien pour lui. Le trafic avant tout” (28). While centering his narrative on three recent suicides (an old man who was believed to have been suffering from Alzheimer’s; a devout mother; and a university student who questioned her career choice as a physiotherapist since she seemed fearful of touching people), Fottorino explores how a society risks losing its humanity when human life no longer appears to be as valuable as time. Indeed, he questions why time has become so important that productivity takes precedence over the value of life by stressing how information on these three individuals is minimally addressed in the press or is distorted by gossipy word of mouth. In addition, people riding trains seem determined to have little contact with others: “Je pense à cette jeune apprentie kiné, désespérée de ne pouvoir toucher autrui. Je me demande si elle acceptait d’être touchée. Si quelqu’un lui prenait la main, lui desserrait le cœur” (62). However, what renders Fottorino’s analysis even stronger are the contrasts between the different manners in which people commit suicide and how witnesses to the suicide respond. While the birth of a baby on the RER draws headlines, a suicide on the RER is barely worth mentioning. Yet, as a memorial to a drowning victim, flowers are thrown annually from a bridge on the Seine. Stark minimal comfort is found in blogs where people, who may or may not have been a witness to the suicide, reflect introspectively: “‘J’espère que ce n’était pas une étudiante comme moi, qui allait en cours’écrit-elle. Je traduis: pourvu que la victime ne soit pas mon double, mon propre reflet. Pourvu que je ne sois pas à sa place”(54). Fottorino’s concise and thought-provoking analysis that includes appeals to the paintings of Hopper, multiple literary greats, and the films of Hitchcock and Truffaut, forces us to reflect...