Who other than Thomas Clerc could have obtained the Wepler? A meticulous exploration of the 18th arrondissement of Paris, his book, which is both performance and autobiography, could not help but thrill the heart of Marie-Rose Guarnieri, creator of the prize and patron of the Abbesses bookstore. By choosing the Belgian poet Célestin de Meeûs for the mention, the jury (renewed each year) has once again demonstrated sagacity, rewarding inventive literature without fear of formal experimentation.
“Paris, museum of the 21st century. The eighteenth arrondissement” (Minuit) is the second part of a long-term project initiated in 2007 with the 10th arrondissement, in the footsteps of Paris, capital of the 19th century by Walter Benjamin. Methodically, the author surveyed from East to West for three years the district where he now lives. From the popular Chapelle district, to the very chic Place des Abbesses, he crisscrossed a Paris unloved by literature where great poverty and flashy wealth coexist, modern architecture and the remains of historic Paris.
A tribute to the infra-ordinary dear to Perec, the book is constructed like an uninterrupted walk, punctuated by performances and other constraints which are all remedies for monotony (“Performance dog”, “Performance I help my neighbor”, visits apartments…). Writer and lecturer at Paris-Nanterre University, Thomas Clerc is the author of around ten books including The Man Who Killed Roland Barthes, Interior et Poeasy (the Gallimard Crossbow). He also collected and presented the Unpublished of the artist and author Edouard Levé, to whom he was close, who died in 2007.
The parallel drift of two adolescents
By rewarding Célestin de Meeûs, the jury has been the only one to date to distinguish an author of a first novel – out of some 70 in this literary season, showing once again his ability to stand out from a certain ambient reluctance. The winner of the mention is already well known in Belgium as a poet, and directs the Angle Mort editions, which he co-founded.
It was through poetry that he came to the short story and the novel, he told us in an interview on the occasion of the portrait that L’Humanité devoted to him in our summer pages, and poetry is for him essential for “the obligation of precision” necessary for narrative writing. He recalls Pieyre de Mandiargues “To learn to write, you have to write poetry.”
This is perhaps the source of the impressive accuracy of the writing of Mythology of.12. The novel describes the parallel drift of two adolescents seized by boredom on the first evening of the school holidays and of a failed and alcoholic doctor confronted with a youth in whom he sees only a source of intrusion and noise.
The author draws like a sketch the collision trajectory between two social logics which can only lead to tragedy. The novel, anchored in a very present material, elementary universe, is strongly situated in the reality of contemporary society. However, we see it inhabited by an underlying mythology, the shape of the labyrinth being close to the theme of Cronos, the titan father devouring his children.
Written during a long stay in the forest, the novel condenses the author’s dreams, his readings, his proximity to nature. The concrete isolation, paradoxically, gives it a very intense presence among humans. The “dance of writing” that he claims as a poet does not cut him off, quite the contrary, from a deep empathy for his creatures.
The only downside to this solid list is the absence of female writers even though they were the majority in the selection with eight out of twelve titles: Louise Bentkowski, Lucie Baratte, Julia Deck, Laure Gauthier, Louise Chennevière, Nina Léger, Mariette Navarro , Bérénice Pichat. If the Wepler, which closes the season, cannot bear full responsibility for this situation alone, the 2024 vintage of the autumn awards is decidedly very masculine.
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