Currently Director of Le Figaro Littéraire, Bruno Corty’s passion for US culture started through the lens of French popular culture, when he was a teenager in the 70s. And his Dictionnaire amoureux de la littérature américaine is an invitation, generous, elegant, erudite yet always accessible, to follow him in this exploration of a passion that has spanned his entire career.
Readers of his literary supplement will find here intact the eclecticism, curiosity, acuity and finesse of Corty’s reviews. But what makes this book so addictive is the freedom with which he approaches and presents the authors he holds dear. There’s nothing academic about this dictionary: while the entries follow one another, they’re in no way alike, and we find ourselves greedily turning the pages, curious as to what’s to come.
There are, of course, the classics (Mark Twain, James Baldwin, Carson McCullers, Toni Morrison) and must-reads (Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Louise Erdrich, Nicole Krauss, Cormac McCarthy, James Salter…), as well as many lesser-known authors (Percival Everett, Nick Flynn, Donald Ray Pollock, William Kotzwinkle).
When presenting Russell Banks, he insists on his courage to confront disturbing subjects; on DeLillo, he describes the successive transformations of his writing that tend towards purity and silence. More than an introduction, the entries sound like recommendations from an impassioned reader to his or her next. In a few lines (or pages), the author outlines what makes a work or an author unique.
But beyond the literary works themselves, Corty has the excellent idea of integrating a number of events that have marked US history and nourished a good deal of fiction: thus, under “Atlanta”, you can read a blood-curdling news item, under “boxing” you’ll find the excellent Joyce Carol Oates, under FBI the omnipotent JE Hoover, and so one and so forth.
In this dictionary, you’ll also find scandals and debates involving authors (from Norman Mailer to James Frey to B.E. Ellis). Through this literature, Corty tracks the reflection of a society built on land theft and murder of all kinds.
In short, this dictionary invites you on a voyage of discovery for novice and seasoned readers alike. With the gift-giving season just around the corner, we’re sure that this Dictionnaire amoureux de la littérature américaine will be a hit under the tree.
Dictionnaire amoureux de la littérature américaine, par Bruno Corty, Plon
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