Through these few words, I would like to pay tribute to a drift, and not the least: one that sets all our senses in turmoil. Because oscillating between fiction and reality with as much ease as between gravity and grace, brilliantly but seemingly nothing, is not given to everyone. But also because it takes audacity, nerve and above all courage to reveal yourself as you are, or even as you are not.
In his novel La Dérive des sens, Armand Pharès does not relieve his pen of his very particular style to tell of a life filled with contradictory feelings, over which the narrator’s optimism always takes precedence. Because ultimately what matters are the opportunities seized, the moments of happiness experienced and shared. Without neglecting the other more obscure aspects, such as the war, or the prevarications which torment him without warning, the author opens up in all modesty and in a refined manner, with his pleasures and his doubts, in the image of a human being in all its complexity.
Due to its authenticity, this unpretentious novel succeeds in pleasing and, even more, in making us travel between eras with disconcerting ease. In addition to the eras, this novel constitutes an odyssey of diverse and varied profiles whose character traits often tend to resonate within us. These characters, who are told without any judgment, arouse all kinds of emotions except indifference. Thus we move from attachment to rejection, from incomprehension to empathy, from desire to frustration, and through a whole spectrum of emotions, each more intense than the other. Like a life, this story of ups and downs is not a
flat electroencephalogram. And although it tells the story of a single character, it can resonate with everyone.
So why not immerse yourself in it, love it, be outraged and above all take the risk of letting yourself be convinced that happiness is within reach for anyone who wants to believe it?
Neuropsychologist, Paris
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Through these few words, I would like to pay tribute to a drift, and not the least: one that sets all our senses in turmoil. Because oscillating between fiction and reality with as much ease as between gravity and grace, brilliantly but seemingly nothing, is not given to everyone. But also because it takes audacity, nerve and above all courage to…
