Féroces infirmes

by Alexis Jenni

«Jean-Paul Aerbi est mon père. Il a eu vingt ans en 1960, et il est parti en Algérie, envoyé à la guerre comme tous les garçons de son âge. Il avait deux copains, une petite amie, il ne les a jamais revus. Il a rencontré ma mère sur le bateau du retour, chargé de ceux qui fuyaient Alger.
Aujourd’hui, je pousse son fauteuil roulant, et je n’aimerais pas qu’il atteigne quatre-vingts ans. Les gens croient que je m’occupe d’un vieux monsieur, ils ne savent pas quelle bombe je promène parmi eux, ils ne savent pas quelle violence est enfermée dans cet homme-là.
Il construisait des maquettes chez un architecte, des barres et des tours pour l’homme nouveau, dans la France des grands ensembles qui ne voulait se souvenir de rien. Je vis avec lui dans une des cités qu’il a construites, mon ami Rachid habite sur le même palier, nous en parlons souvent, de la guerre et de l’oubli. C’est son fils Nasser qui nous inquiète : il veut ne rien savoir, et ne rien oublier.
Nous n’arrivons pas à en sortir, de cette histoire.»

Genres: Roman

336 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2020

Reviews

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this was a meaningful read, and I was surprised that the ladies in my book club were impatient with it, but they admitted that after reading Mauvignier's "Des Hommes", they'd had enough Algerian war. In my view, Jenni's story is just as powerful. The central character is Jean-Paul Aerbi, an architecture student on the brink of a career with his mentor Corinthe, himself a disciple of Jeanneret (better known as Le Corbusier), when he is called to serve in Algeria. His time in the army completely derails his life. When he understands that the French government is about to throw in the towel, he moves from an elite squad to a terrorist group (OAS). After the Evian agreements, he evacuates back to France along with a million "pied-noirs". During the crossing, he has the good fortune of bonding with a wonderful young doctor, Aimée Sarfati. They have a happy marriage and produce a son, but Jean-Paul cannot put Algeria behind, and joins a far-right group determined to assassinate De Gaulle and turn back the clock. Although Jean-Paul has benefitted from an amnesty deal, he takes enormous risks until his comrades start believing, mistakenly, that he has betrayed them. The story is not told in chronological order, so we already know that the widowed Jean-Paul has become a sour old sod whose verbal violence against his Arab neighbors is a constant source of shame and anguish for his mild-mannered son. Jean-Paul got himself thrown out of a nursing home for threatening other residents, forcing his son to become his full-time caretaker. Instead of being repentant and grateful, Jean-Paul ridicules his son for being too weak to keep his girlfriend. I loved Jenni's descriptions of the atmosphere of terror during the final years of the Algerian war and of the flight of the "pied-noirs" in 1962, and I found it useful to be reminded of the volatile atmosphere in France after Algerian independence. Also of interest to me was all the stuff about architecture and the huge utopian ambitions people like Corinthe (modeled on François-Régis Cottin) had for projects like La Duchère. Overall Jenni packs quite a lot into a 325 page novel, and I consider it a worthy addition to the cannon of fictions on the Algerian war, its aftermath and the shadow it still throws over France today.

[Demailly · Rating 4 out of 5]

feroce