La langue paternelle, the first novel by Arno Dubois tells the astonishing story of Gafdhi a father filled with raged and obsessed by geographical maps, stories of soldiers from the Napoleon army and the memories of his childhood in a 1940’s french-armenian Cairo. It is the story of a man who wants to speak perfect French by erasing all the language heritage of his ancestors. Yet, this decision hasn’t been without consequences for his descendants who struggle to unravel reality and mythology in their family tree.
A fake family novel carried by a joyful wacky tone, in between a spy-detective movie, a recipe book, a mediterranean western and a grammar and translation book of a family mythology La langue paternelle is also a reflection on language, roots and the feeling of belonging to a country.
