Aron directed by Elisabeth Dutartre-Michaut Editions de L’Herne, 272 p., €33 There is something disturbing about going back to the writings of Raymond Aron (1905-1983), when in Eastern Europe war has just made a sensational entrance again. The work of the philosopher and sociologist, former professor at the College de France and figure of liberal … Read more
The Grand Tour, self-portrait of Europe by its writers Collective, under the direction of Olivier Guez, with Daniel Kehlmann, Sofi Oksanen, Colm Toibin, Jens Christian Grondahl, Lidia Jorge… Grasset, 464 p., 22 € What can culture do in times of war? This question, at a time when Europe has seen the armed conflict return to … Read more
A friendship de Silvia Avallone translated from Italian by Françoise Brun, Liana Levi, 528 p., € 23 This story of an all-consuming friendship between two teenage girls inevitably recalls The Prodigious Friend, by Elena Ferrante. As brilliant a storyteller as her Italian colleague, Silvia Avallone slips into the meanders of the same river that carries … Read more
Journey into unknown territory the David Park Translated from English (Northern Ireland) by Cécile Arnaud Quai Voltaire, 212 p., €20 When he drives off to pick up his sick son from his student residence, Tom twice fails to get started. The snow, which fell in abundance in the Belfast region where he lives and the … Read more
Reading under the Occupation by Jacques Cantier CNRS Editions, 382 pages, €25 Regular reminders of the value of reading by government or school campaigns – the latest by Emmanuel Macron in June 2021, making reading a “great national cause” – would almost make you forget that its wide implantation in cultural practices is a recent … Read more
be with the savage by Arnaud Villani Salamander editions, 106 p., €19 “To survey the Earth, in all directions, at any age, is to live there”, writes Arnaud Villani, poet and philosopher whose last issue plunges us into the world of trees, forests, paths, lakes, clouds… In this celebration of walking and counting, the book … Read more