"Say, what are you thinking? »
I think sometimes a good book is one that will make us think, imagine and dream. Who will awaken in us curiosity.
Publication date in France : 2017 publisher : Le Castor Astral 224 pages
"Say, what are you thinking? »
It is with these words that Hervé Le Tellier's experimental novel opens: Les Amnésiques n'ont rien d'unforgettable experience. Strange and intriguing, it was published by Le Castor Astral in 2017. If this may be a trivial question, Hervé Le Tellier's answers are much less so. In a disjointed and surprising way, here he is proposing exactly a thousand possible reflections.
"I think to make sure I'm read and re-read, I should write my novels on cornflake packets. »
From the simplest to the most far-fetched, through the observation of a truth that had not caught our attention. Thus, over the pages, the curious reader will have plenty of time to discover the thoughts that cross the mind of the author. Author of novels, short stories, poetry, theater, journalist, Le Tellier shows in this text his mastery of humor and irony. And it reads so easily, so quickly, that you almost want the thoughts to continue for hundreds of pages… to always have it in the tooth.
"I think I'd like to be a ventriloquist to make statues of saints talk in churches. »
Between fiction and disguised autobiography, this book questions and surprises with its cynicism. No main topic, no common thread except perhaps this question, "What are you thinking? ». The author thus moves from the animal condition to the small worries of everyday life… From sexuality to religion. He talks about his life, that of his neighbors, his colleagues or fictional characters. As we read, we feel empathy and curiosity in his lines, until we launch ourselves into writing our futile thoughts.
"I think I'm so cowardly that I don't have the courage to be completely cowardly. »
Nothing to complain about: The Amnesiacs have not experienced anything unforgettable is a worthy representative of the current of Oulipo. Singular, unique, it is a book that can be read and inspired, too.
Did you know? Oulipo is the acronym for Ouvroir de Littérature Potentiel! This literary trend emerged in the 1970s by Raymond Queneau (that of poems) and the mathematician François Le Lionnais. Their goal: to develop inventiveness and creativity in literature, by proposing constraints in writing. They were joined in the 80s by many people of letters like George Perec, the author of The Disappearance, a novel whose letter "e" is absent.
If this book speaks to you, we invite you to consult the catalog of Castor Astral editions. Among Hervé Le Tellier's titles, we find the absurd Encyclopædia inutilis or Mona Lisa up to a hundred, with its 100 portraits of the Mona Lisa, each more intriguing than the last.
