LEmmanuel Venet's new tale blends Greco-Roman mythology with the story of a young doctor in 1981, who wanders between disappointed love affairs, attempts at writing and preparation for a competitive examination.
In an interview with Télérama In 2003, the Italian intellectual and writer Umberto Eco declared that «every writer is always recounting the same obsession», i.e. he or she is always torn in the writing of his or her works by the same image, motif or
as in Man's most secret memory by Mohammed Mbougar Sarr, where the hero, Diégane Latyr Faye, a young writer, is obsessed with the mysterious author T.C. Elimane and his mythical book, The labyrinth of the inhuman, and set off in his footsteps.
A personal odyssey
One could say that the novel Virgil doesn't care, the latest work by psychiatrist and writer Emmanuel Venet, is in the same obsessive vein. The story unfolds from 1er January to December 31, 1981, a very important year for the story's anonymous narrator. As a sixth-year medical student, he alternates between «acting as an intern» for the boastful Professor Mortillon, studying for the competitive examination to become an intern, and falling in love, notably with the mysterious Alexia Maurer. Also in 1981, the election of François Mitterand shook up a France in the midst of the Cold War.
With these different archetypes (young man's quest to write, disappointed loves...), which can be found in many stories, it's easy to deduce that the story won't end on a high note. happy end American style. The book, divided into 91 chapters (which could also be considered as 91 fragments of memory), alternates between different moments in the narrator's life in 1981 and episodes from Western mythology that the hero draws from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman mythology by Pierre Grimal, purchased at the beginning of the story following his failed night of love with a certain Ariana....
While the content of the story itself is not the most innovative, the form of the narrative gives the book a surprising vitality. There is no dialogue in the book, which is written in reported speech. A surprising stylistic choice at first glance, but one that fits in well with the subject matter. The form chosen corresponds to the self-image of the narrator, who sees himself as an «aède», recounting his personal odyssey.
What does Virgil care?
The main character, who is relatively uneducated at the start of the novel, especially about the myth of Theseus, has his sights set on publishing books, despite the fact that he is destined to become a doctor; a project that is hardly compatible with the life plan of Chantal Magnard, his former fiancée, and the preparation for the internship exam. It's with the arrival of Alexia Maurer, a young intern in Professor Mortillon's department, who quickly becomes the narrator's lover, that the young man joins a group of literati whose aim, between several beers and bottles, is to draw up a list of the hundred most beautiful books in the French language.
But what exactly is Virgil taking the piss out of? The Roman poet who, incidentally, appears very late in the story, after the narrator has told us about the Greek gods, the tragedy of the Atrides, the Trojan War... We dare an answer by glancing at page 111 of the book:
«Fussy historians claim that three centuries elapsed between the fall of Troy and the founding of Carthage, which lends Aeneas» journey an extraordinary length of time. But Virgil doesn't give a damn: if pushed, he would probably have replied that all stories are written that way, especially love stories."
It would appear that Virgil was not an incredible screenwriter for his Aeneid. But when it comes down to it, what does it matter if you don't respect chronology? Aeneas had one obsession: to build a new Troy. The narrator of Virgil doesn't care has two others: to stay with Alexia Maurer and to write against all odds. Will both survive 1981? It's up to the reader to find out.
Write to the author: ivan.garcia@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © Photo from Pixnio
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Emmanuel Venet
Virgil doesn't care
Editions Verdier
2022
150 pages
French 
German 
English