The month of January is the start of the literary season, an event that offers its share of novelties, eagerly awaited by booksellers, publishers and readers, eager for discoveries. So what awaits us in 2016? There are 476 novels that see the light of day at the beginning of the year. During the fall, literary prizes fell, directing book professionals and lovers alike to what made the greatest number of people enjoy reading. In the multitude of new books that come out during January and February, you will find confirmed authors but also new writers who discover their pens. First taste.
Speaking of confirmed…
First literary event of the year: on January 1, 2016, Jean d'Ormesson, academic philosopher since 1973, published at Gallimard "I will say despite everything that this life was beautiful". The title of this 496-page souvenir book refers directly to Aragon and his poem The Eyes and Memory. Jean d'Ormesson is a reference in literature. Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, he is one of the few living authors to be entered in the Pléiade in January 2015.Rather than his memoirs, the French author describes this work as "the book of his life". It takes the form of a trial report between the writer and his superego, with many dialogues. The common thread, as with all the works of Jean d'Ormesson, remains the passing of time, with a large number of references both historical and literary.
In foreign literature
After thirty-seven years, Haruki Murakami, the author of the famous 1Q84 trilogy, finally authorizes the publication of his first two novels "Listen to the song of the wind", winner of the prestigious Gunzo Prize 1979, followed by "Flipper, 1973", both previously unpublished in France. Finally translated and collected in a single volume by Belfont, preceded by a preface by the author who explains their genesis, they compose the first two volumes of the "Rat trilogy", which closes "La Course au mouton sauvage", published in 2002 by Éditions du Seuil. This text, which dates from 1979, already takes the form of lyrical flights on the true meaning of life. Murakami setting up what will become his style through dialogues between a young man and a young woman, both lonely and terrified of imposing themselves in the life of the other.
A modern novel
Camille Laurens, known for her novel "Dans ces bras-là", returns with "The one you believe", published in Gallimard's white collection. The narrator, Claire, in her fifties, mother of two teenagers, divorced, represents one of these new categories on the love market. She uses Facebook to create a new "me" for herself, and ends up believing in the life she fantasizes. A psychological thriller, this novel pushes us to question the relationships we have with screens in today's society. A demanding author both in substance and form, Camille Laurens offers a story as serious as it is funny, a reflection on the place of women in a society dominated by men.
"It's mysterious, desire. We want something from the other that we do not have or that we no longer have"
Inspired by a true story
Olivier Adam released his latest opus "La renverse", on January 6, 2016 at Flammarion. An ambitious novel that seizes on a news item (inspired by the Tron affair, it seems) to dissect all its social and intimate facets.Antoine, the narrator, finds himself plunged into the heart of a public scandal when he learns that his mother is involved in a publicized affair of morality with the mayor, of which she is deputy. This is a bit the specialty of the writer that we presented to you last month: writing in the background. The reality of the narrator is not the same as that of the writer, or even that of the reader. The rest is only departures, escapes and returns, themes particularly dear to the author, who knows how to move.
First collection of a singer
We all know Louis Chedid and his sweet melodies, as well as his musical tale "The Pink Soldier". It is obvious that in this artist, humor and poetry are linked to deal with our time and the subjects that agitate his contemporaries. The singer published on January 6 at Calmann-Lévy "Lives and dust", a collection of 16 short stories that open, each, on a small moral. In an original atmosphere , like its author, it is fragments of existence that are depicted at the moment when something is veiled. Because life can sometimes be cruel, and it is a slightly darker aspect of the singer that his pen lets glimpse.
The literary UFO
David Duchovny published on January 13, 2016 with Éditions Grasset "Oh la vache!». This is the first novel of the actor who became famous for his roles in X-Files, then Californication, where he plays, moreover, a New York writer exiled in California. Before developing a passion for theater that pushed him towards film, David Duchovny had studied literature at Yale. It seems that the actor was able to find his style: "Oh the cow!" is a bestseller in the United States. He diverts the fable in an irresistible way: the little cow named Elsie Bovary, leads a peaceful life until the day she realizes that her destiny is doomed to end in hamburger. Narrated in the first person, Elsie's story continues through different countries during her flight to India where her sisters are sacred. With a background of humour, the famous alien hunter deals with current topics, giving his text several degrees of reading. A varied choice of readings that announces a year full of literary discoveries!
