Goncourt 2017 readings (episode 2/2)

Le Regard Libre N° 34 - Loris S. Musumeci

Hold on to your crown, Bakhita, The Art of Losing and Agenda formed a quality shortlist for the irreplaceable Prix Goncourt. On November 6, it was finally Agenda by Eric Vuillard. Here's a look back at the impression made by this atypical but powerful short novel.

«The Sun is a cold star. Its heart, thorns of ice. Its light, unforgiving. In February, the trees are dead, the river petrified, as if the spring no longer vomited water and the sea couldn't swallow any more. Time stands still. In the morning, not a sound, not a bird song, nothing. Then an automobile, another, and suddenly footsteps, silhouettes we can't see. The stage manager strikes three, but the curtain doesn't rise.»

This is how the story opens. Without the last two sentences of’incipit, In the end, the viewer expects a ball of descriptions bouncing from one illustration to the next. The descriptive interludes remain throughout the book, sometimes as paragraphs punctuating the page, sometimes as aphorisms evoking the indefectible link between humans and the environment as they perceive it. In addition, the author's brief reflections ignite the meaning of the episodes mentioned in the book with a single spark.

February 20, 1933

The story, like History, has no beginning and no end. It is cyclical. On the evening of February 20, 1933, the automobiles mentioned in the introduction are the ones that drive Germany's leading industrialists, «those who care for us, clothe us, light us», to the Assembly Palace. The Nazi party needed their support. Everyone stands to gain. The notables are assured of a national and social German society, with labor presented at the altar of consecration. The arrival of the new Chancellor is announced. The twenty-four good men are already seduced and impatient.

«There was a few bangs on the doors, and the new chancellor finally entered the salon. Those who had never met him were curious to see him. Hitler was smiling, relaxed, not at all as one might have imagined, affable, yes, friendly even, far more friendly than one might have expected. He had a word of thanks for each of them, an invigorating handshake.»

A mixture of the ridiculous and the frightening

Eric Vuillard returns to this meeting that changed the course of history in the final pages of his book. In the meantime, he takes the liberty of venturing into the more discreet moments when German domination descended on Austria, and the minute, almost theatrical staging that troubled Europe's secret services.

Passing through London in 1938, during a burlesque dinner between the Reich ambassador, Chamberlain, Cadogan and Churchill; through Nuremberg, at the time of the trial against the Nazi regime and its crimes, the author of the 2017 Goncourt Prize leaves only one clear and distinct message: «You never fall into the same abyss twice. But we always fall in the same way, in a mixture of ridicule and dread.»

Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

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