Arno Dubois

La langue paternelle

The Paternal Language

September 4, 2019
Novel
150 pages
145 × 205 mm
16 €
9782366244410
978-2-3662-4441-0
																Arno Dubois, La langue paternelle
																Arno Dubois, La langue paternelle

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.

The author

Arnaud Dubois was born in 1978 in France. After his degree in philosophy, Arno Dubois became a press corrector at les Cahiers du cinéma, Télérama and Courrier International. His obsession for his ancestor’s linguistic past—a bilingual french-armenian family from Egypt—pushed him to formulate the paradox that French is not his real mother tong although he is talentless in learning other languages. La langue paternelle is his first novel.

Strong points

A first rampant novel which proves a great narrative freedom and resembles the family saga (armenian), as well as a history book and a spy novel, all of that carried by a joyful madness.

In contrast with a lifefull narrative, a deep embodied reflection on the relationship we have with language and the way it defines the feeling of belonging to a country.

Outside its literary dimension this text is refreshing by its incursions into a large variety of genres such as cinema, food recipes and of course grammar.

September 4, 2019
Novel
150 pages
145 × 205 mm
16 €
9782366244410
978-2-3662-4441-0