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La cible
Chacun des récits qui forment La cible a son unité propre, et peut s'isoler de l'ensemble, mais c'est à la façon de ces moments d'une existence dont nous disons qu'ils tranchent sur le reste : accidents d'une perspective qui prend pour eux sa profondeur. Un gamin s'absente de la messe et ne parvient pas à inventer le sermon qu'il devrait répéter à ses parents, mais il trouve autre chose. Plus tard, au bord de la mer, il fait la connaissance d'une personne qui l'éblouit. Des années passent. Il rencontre à l'étranger un petit garçon collectionneur de squelettes d'oiseaux et de rongeurs. Il constate l'existence du satyre de l'aube. Il se promène sur les toits. Il emprunte la cravate et les souliers d'un magistrat équivoque... C'est encore la jeunesse ; mais vient une fois où le je narrateur s'efface. C'est la chance folle qui mène le jeu : le héros du dernier récit est un homme absent de sa propre existence. Tel est le lien logique de cette douzaine d'histoires moins une. On peut y voir aussi une suite d'images n'ayant de commun qu'un certain style ; le lecteur fera son choix.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 1, 2019
About the author
Henri Thomas
102 books1 followerHenri Thomas (December 7, 1912, Anglemont, Vosges – November 3, 1993, Paris) was a French writer and poet.
Henri Thomas was born in 1912 and grew up in the Alsace/Lorraine region of France. He moved to Paris to attend the prestigious Henri IV high school, working with the noted essayist Alain. However, his teaching and academic career faltered and he dedicated himself to writing full-time from 1935. He mixed with many influential intellectuals and writers in Paris in the '30's and '40's, most notably Gide and Paulhan. His first novel "The Coal Bucket" was published by Gallimard in 1940, as were the majority of his literary production (novels, short stories, journals, poems, essays, etc.) for the next forty odd years. In the ‘forties he did his military service, got married, worked on a number of literary reviews and separated from his wife.
In 1945, Thomas took a job with the BBC in London and lived and worked there for about ten years. Also during this period he met the woman who would later become his second wife and their daughter was born while the couple was in London.
In 1958, he was hired as a professor at Brandeis University in the United States, where he lived and worked for two years.
After his return to France in 1960 he worked as a literary editor and translator at Gallimard and spent his time primarily in Paris and in Brittany, although after his second wife died in 1965, Thomas began to live mostly in Brittany. He moved to a rest home in Paris in 1991 after his health failed and died there in 1993.
(from Wikipedia)
Henri Thomas was born in 1912 and grew up in the Alsace/Lorraine region of France. He moved to Paris to attend the prestigious Henri IV high school, working with the noted essayist Alain. However, his teaching and academic career faltered and he dedicated himself to writing full-time from 1935. He mixed with many influential intellectuals and writers in Paris in the '30's and '40's, most notably Gide and Paulhan. His first novel "The Coal Bucket" was published by Gallimard in 1940, as were the majority of his literary production (novels, short stories, journals, poems, essays, etc.) for the next forty odd years. In the ‘forties he did his military service, got married, worked on a number of literary reviews and separated from his wife.
In 1945, Thomas took a job with the BBC in London and lived and worked there for about ten years. Also during this period he met the woman who would later become his second wife and their daughter was born while the couple was in London.
In 1958, he was hired as a professor at Brandeis University in the United States, where he lived and worked for two years.
After his return to France in 1960 he worked as a literary editor and translator at Gallimard and spent his time primarily in Paris and in Brittany, although after his second wife died in 1965, Thomas began to live mostly in Brittany. He moved to a rest home in Paris in 1991 after his health failed and died there in 1993.
(from Wikipedia)
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