The book “Les immortels”, distributed by Hachette, explores the delicate balance between those who strive to enjoy their excessive happiness and those who fight against human injustices and the horrors of life without sinking into nothingness. The author, who is one of the characters in this book and thus proves to be a valuable witness to the story, is neither a philosopher nor a sociologist but an academic lawyer who expresses his feelings about an unusual situation.
After pursuing his higher education in private law and criminal sciences and eventually completing a state doctorate at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, Jamel Djoudi was a university lecturer and lawyer at the Paris bar, while also signing numerous publications in law and supervising doctoral theses.
A family saga
After living in Paris for more than forty years, he chose to settle in Vedène. From the introduction of his book, the author starts from the observation that the dream of a happy destiny is a human fact that each of us should live. To achieve this, he thinks that it would perhaps be enough to be satisfied with little, to stick to time and live the present without looking too much into the future or revisiting the past too much. That it would also be enough to tolerate the faults of others and only appreciate their qualities or be satisfied with one’s own intelligence. Under these conditions, we would be in the art of cultivating pleasure and being able to live a certain plenitude. But the author recognizes that the art of cultivating pleasure by aspiring to a life as simple as possible does not necessarily ensure peace and serenity.
It is the justice of life or rather the injustice of life and men that has forged the spirit of an authentic family described in this book. You will be fascinated by this family which, while enduring the misfortune, injustice and precariousness due to two wars, suffered the premature loss of four children. And at the moment when it aspired to a certain tranquility, it suddenly loses the father and his prodigious son who returned from the United States and finds itself faced with the disability of its 14-year-old teenager. And, three years later, this family loses a protective son and two of his three sons-in-law, keeping only its handicapped son and its minor children. Finally, it is a family struck by a curse which deprived it of the father, seven of its thirteen children and two of its three sons-in-law.
But, the spirit of the deceased loved ones allowed this family to rebuild itself. They are the immortals. True life is the one that oscillates between happiness and tragedy. If “happiness is salutary for the body… it is sorrow that develops the strength of the mind” (Marcel Proust Temps retrouvé). Life is made of joys and dramas. We savor its delights but in the face of adversity we must seek the slightest spark to overcome the trials. A ray of light can be the star that illuminates us and helps us fight against the darkness. Faced with the relentlessness of destiny, we adapt to what we have, we keep our serenity in the face of the storm, believe that it will pass and follow the course of life until the exit to regain our strength and bounce back to reach our ultimate goal. This is the modest message of this story.
You will find the book “Les immortels” online on Fnac, Cultura, Amazon, Furet du Nord, Décitre and other sites. Contact: [email protected].
