Allain Glykos

Par la fenêtre

Through the Window

February 1, 2023

Novel

112 pages

140 × 205 mm

16 €

978-2-3662-4734-3

Philippe was a brilliant student of philosophy and a disciple of Gilles Deleuze. He narrowly escaped death as a baby because of an ear deformity that could have led to a generalized infection if his mother had not insisted that he be operated on. A photo immortalized his departure for the hospital, his parents thinking that it would be the last image they would keep of him.
It is from this photo, where he is in his mother’s arms, in front of a window, on the second floor of the apartment located above the café run by his parents, that the memories of those who have been close to him cross. From the confrontation of the voices of his best student friend, his childhood neighbors and his parents, a kaleidoscopic portrait of Philippe emerges, that of a homosexual class transgressor, the son of an immigrant who left to study in Paris.

The author

Born in 1948, Allain Glykos lives and teaches in Bordeaux. A novelist, he has published some twenty books, several of which are autobiographical. He is also the author of a documentary film about his father for French and Greek television. His novel Manolis de Vourla, published in 2005, sold 3,000 copies. He is the author of three comic books with Antonin, published by Cambourakis.

Strong points

By the author, among others, of Parle-moi de Manolis (4000 copies sold), Le silence de chacun, Faute de parler, La signature, Nunca mas, À proprement parler published by L’Escampette.

A kaleidoscopic portrait of a man who disappeared, drawn from the memories of those who were close to him, this novel also offers a reflection on the variability of memory and the unspoken words that emerge in family stories.

The trajectory of a class defector, son of an immigrant father, who went to Paris to study philosophy, and that of a whole generation that sought its place in society during and after the Second World War.