Un barrage contre l'Atlantique

2022 novel by Frédéric Beigbeder

9782246826552

Un barrage contre l'Atlantique (lit. 'A Dam Against the Atlantic') is a 2022 novel by the French writer Frédéric Beigbeder.

Plot

Un barrage contre l'Atlantique is an autobiographical novel similar to Frédéric Beigbeder's previous A French Novel and has the subtitle Un roman français, tome 2 (lit. 'A French Novel, Volume 2'). It is largely told in fragments, consisting of paragraphs with one sentence each. Inspired by a painting he spontaneously buys, Beigbeder reminisces about his life and French society, from his childhood in the 1970s through his time as a dandy in Paris, his relationship with Laura Smet, and his hermit-like life in Guéthary. The book was written at the compound of Benoît Bartherotte [fr], a wealthy man who tries to stop the erosion of Cap Ferret by building a large and unauthorised seawall.^[1]

Reception

Grégory Plouviez of Le Parisien wrote that the book is written with "exquisite melancholy".^[2] Jean-Paul Brighelli of Marianne wrote that Beigbeder handles the fragmentary form in a way similar to Heraclitus and Emil Cioran and that Un barrage contre l'Atlantique is a more profound book than A French Novel.^[3] The French Review wrote that the book is "much more disparate in content and form" than A French Novel and that "Beigbeder’s admirers and detractors will find much fodder here".^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Hertich, Alexander (2022). "Beigbeder, Frédéric. Un barrage contre l'Atlantique. Grasset, 2022. ISBN 978-2-246-82655-2. Pp. 272". The French Review. 96 (2): 204–205. doi:10.1353/tfr.2022.0251.
^ Plouviez, Grégory (4 January 2022). ""Un barrage contre l'Atlantique" : Frédéric Beigbeder, à la recherche de la phrase parfaite". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 11 October 2023.
^ Brighelli, Jean-Paul (24 January 2022). ""Un barrage contre l'Atlantique", de Frédéric Beigbeder : essayé et approuvé". Marianne (in French). Retrieved 11 October 2023.