Philibert Humm on the train, Susie Boyt between women, Virginia Tangvald with her family.
Article reserved for subscribers
Published on 08/28/2024 at 6:34 p.m.
Reading time: 3 min
Railway novel ***
Philibert Humm
After going down the Seine in a River novel that we have not forgotten, we must set off on an adventure again, pushed by a banker who is worried about his client’s lack of income and by the customers of the usual bar waiting for a new destination. On the suggestion whispered in a breath of pastis by Gérard the chimney sweep, it will be the rail without constraint. “You just have to become a hobo”, an image associated with the great American spaces and whose transposition to France promises some tasty surprises. We will not be disappointed, the setbacks and stupid reflections are there, in the company of an improbable Simon, “an old redskin who will never walk in an Indian file”, according to the expression of Achille Chavée, a Hainaut poet underused in French literature and to whom justice is thus done. Under the cover of common sense, the absurd has a bright future ahead of it.
This article is reserved for subscribers
Access verified and decrypted national and international information
1€/week for 4 weeks (no commitment)
With this offer, take advantage of:
- Unlimited access to all articles, files and reports from the editorial team
- The newspaper in digital version (PDF)
- Reading comfort with limited advertising