"Henri Duchemin and his Shadows" by Emmanuel Bove (Introduction by Donald Breckenridge) Translated from the French by Alyson Waters

978-1-59017-832-4, $14.95, nyrb classics

I have never read Emmanuel Bove, and now, I feel like I have a good new friend.  On the other hand, do I need him as a friend?  The short stories all deal with a main character who feels misplaced or not connecting on a human level with others or their settings.  In many ways, they are totally self-destructive figures who seem to enjoy their fall from grace to embrace emotional failure.  Most of his fiction was written between the two world wars, so it's a world that itself is in conflict, and i think Bove is commenting on the nature of that landscape and how one lives on that mental state of depression and fear of the future.  Relationships seem to be built on quicksand than on pavement and ground.  Bove captures these moments that are totally believable, yet they are basically insane people.   Right now, I feel we are going through an age of intense anxiety.   "Henri Duchemin and his Shadows" expresses the culture of the 20s, and makes perfect sense in the year 2015 as well. 

Emmanuel Bove

A Review of Albert Cossery's "A Splendid Conspiracy"

A Splendid Conspiracy by Albert Cossery


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Anyone who is a friend of Boris Vian is a friend of mine. And Albert Cossery is very close to the aesthetic quality of the Prince of St. Germain-des-Prés. This is the first novel I have read by Cossery, and because of it I am now a loyal follower of this magnificent Egyptian born, but hardcore Parisian writer.

"A Splendid Conspiracy" (Un Complot de Saltimbanques) is a novel about three young friends among other citizens of a small town in Egypt. One is a police informer, the other a European traveler who tasted the good life, and the third is basically a nihilist punk who is über-smart.

Through these three characters, we see small town conservative life and its under-current of sexual adventure, decadence, and possible series of murder. But all of this serves in the background and its interesting how Cossery introduces each character and how they become part of the narrative. Life is a remarkable adventure and this book reads as a map to appreciate your location as well as how things are connected by the dots, but those dots can lead you to something strange, scary, weird, or ...sexy.

The book is translated by Alyson Waters and the language flows easily. A classic. And of course it is published by New Directions. His other novel "The Jokers" will be published by NYRB. So he's in good company.

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