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Summer in France in the Shade of Noir
The MEP Literature Group continues its tradition of easy summer reading focusing on the noir genre. Our two selections are both set in France and both deal with corruption in high places by right-wing politicians and corporations who manipulate inept investigators of low social standing and morals.
- Command Performance, by Jean Echenoz; translated by Mark Polizzotti (New York Review Books, 2020). A hapless unemployed flight attendant thinks he can solve his financial problems by becoming a private detective, but he ends up in the employ of a fractious right-wing political party. Things do not go well. Be prepared to discuss the entire book at our first session on August 6.
- Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner (Scribners, 2024). Sadie Smith once worked as a government undercover operative within an environmental rights group. She got fired for entrapment and went to work in corporate espionage. Her summer assignment in France is to provoke an incident by an environmental rights group that will justify government action. Will Sadie’s honey trap tactics succeed? (August 13, 20, 24)
Convened by Jacqueline Cantwell and the MEP Literature Group. Jacqueline became involved with the MEP’s Literature Group because of her love of Victor Serge’s novels. Participating in an MEP reading group led by Serge translator Richard Greeman eight years ago, Jacqueline found a community of readers eager to be challenged by the ambitions of international writers devoted to the creative potential of political fiction. Since the death of Michael Lardner, who hosted and organized the Literature Group for so many years, Jacqueline has taken the lead in furthering the group’s goals of exploring international fiction and encouraging thoughtful conversation.