In “So it’s good”, Clémentine Mélois recounts the farewell to her artist father

Published on January 15, 2025 at 10:37 p.m. / Modified on January 16, 2025 at 00:10.

3 mins. reading

Among the Mélois, a family of artists, we die as we lived: in a burst of choral creativity, joyful and a bit messy. In So it’s goodClémentine Mélois tells the story of the last days of the life of her father Bernard and offers an intimate and moving portrait. To tackle such a serious subject, the author, who is also a visual artist and member of Oulipo, does not depart from what is the trademark of her books, a sparkling, offbeat and funny writing. You will often get misty-eyed, as much as you will burst out laughing, while reading this book.

“That’s where we lived.” A ruined farm on the edge of the forest, acquired with his wife Michèle in 1971 and renovated by Bernard, a genius handyman. Since then, he has spent all his days there, deep in the organized chaos of his workshop, away from openings and social events, surrounded by a shower of sparks, welding his sculptures while humming – falsely – Little Flower. The work of Bernard Mélois was “daughter of the Trente Glorieuses”, since his favorite material was enameled sheet metal from pitchers, basins, coffee pots and other enamel objects that everyone got rid of: all they had to do was use among the rejects. Clémentine Mélois keeps family trips in Méhari, scouring public dumps, an “olfactory madeleine” composed of a “delicious mixture of burnt plastic and carrion”.

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