People who have not read even one book in the Malaussène saga are becoming increasingly rare. And for good reason, The Carbine Fairy has The Little Prose Merchantthis novel cycle is one of the most popular in bookstores. In 2023, the author published the eighth and final volume of this series, closing it with some shattering revelations.
“The Malaussènes were born in the early 1980s in the cellar of Éditions Gallimard, under the cover of the “Série noire”, then directed by Robert Soulat and Christian Mounier. » Daniel Pennac
How, then, can we not want to return to what began in 1985 with To the happiness of the ogres ? In Mon assassinDaniel Pennac looks at a key character in the work, Pépère. He tells us about his childhood, thus creating bridges between the reader and him, but not only that. Each character (or almost) is evoked in a form of inspirational whirlwind. A whirlwind which is not without echoing reality. And maybe that’s also what we’re talking about here.
Write the Malaussènes
Because yes, Mon assassin is also a book about the writer Pennac. That of the Malaussènes, but also the one who thinks, who perceives the world through his prism. Very quickly, he takes us with him into what we could call his workshop, his backstage, and reveals some elements about what makes his work, according to him. This is perhaps the most interesting thing in this novel, for those who do not yet know the Malaussène saga. This is perhaps also what makes this book a book of drawers.
Indeed, from page to page, we learn who is behind each big name in the eight books. We thus discover people in the flesh, from Robert Soulat to the children’s editor Isabelle, via JML (whom we easily imagine to be Jean-Marie Laclavetine, editor at Gallimard, and who became that of Daniel Pennac) . All took part in Pennac’s fiction, in their own way. Everyone participated in making this novelistic cycle a permanent metaphor.
“Do we embody the friend we make into a character in a novel or do we disembodie him? I’ll think about it. » Daniel Pennac
This is precisely what leads the author to reflect, with us, on this nebulous concept of character. The latter is undoubtedly linked to the imagination which, sometimes, better captures reality. The characters take the page, they embody the story together, larger than life. And life almost becomes disappointing. Or, at least, not big enough.
Fiction versus life
With this in mind, memories mingle with reflection. Sometimes, when it comes to explaining the source of an idea, Daniel Pennac himself fumbles, he hesitates, he wonders if, ultimately, it might not be this or rather that. He is overwhelmed by fiction, and we love that.
Is he himself not satisfied with these limits? Basically, Mon assassin almost asks more questions than it sheds light on a saga that is hard to believe that Pennac would hate. And ultimately, this approach to diegetics is not so unique, but it has the merit of affecting a popular work. That’s probably what makes this an interesting case here.
“I suspect another literary origin for Pépère’s murderous fury. Another childhood memory. And reading. » Daniel Pennac
Literary history has already experimented with the art of blurring the boundaries between the writer’s groping and the narration that the reader can concretely “read” (let’s think of If on a winter night a traveler by Italo Calvino, where the process of literary creation intervenes directly in the story). And here, Daniel Pennac once again places himself as a writer-reader, one who rediscovers, who tries to discover what led him to weave such a tight web. But mystery is good, sometimes.
And if the book is filled with eloquent sentences on inspiration, the writing, for its part, remains what makes us recognize its author: expressive, oral, sometimes joyful, why not complaining. In short, pure Pennac. And deep down, we couldn’t ask for better.
Mon assassinby Daniel Pennac, Gallimard, 160 pages, €18, in bookstores on October 3.
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