Living in France but ravaged by memories of war in Algeria, Mohand-Said has withdrawn into his own world. Xavier retraces the steps of his dignified and strong-willed illiterate father: from Kabylia to the factory in Normandy where his he would spend the rest of life. As he breaks with tradition, Xavier finds which doors slam closed and which open.
‘A magnificent book.’
‘A beautiful novel, sensitive, magnificently written. It has shaken us to our core.’
‘Here literature is not a settling of accounts, nor a torrent of tears, it is a march forward towards understanding one’s history and oneself.’
''A Man With No Title is a powerful account of a marginalised community. As well as a poignant hymn to his father – “born dispossessed, without a title to land or French citizenship papers” – Le Clerc also pays tribute to France and the redemption it offered him through education. In finding his father, he discovers something of himself and the resilience they share.''
''A loving tribute both to a father and to the author’s joy in language, and the only failing is that there isn’t more of it.''
''The open-heartedness of A Man With No Title is one of its distinctive characteristics ... Le Clerc makes literature his own and adds his signature to the list of French prose stylists.''
Mohand-Said Ait-Taleb is an enigma. Living in France but ravaged by memories of the war in Algeria, he has withdrawn into his own world, away from his wife and children. When his son Xavier discovers articles by Albert Camus describing the appalling conditions his father grew up in, he starts to piece together the story of his life.
Xavier retraces the steps of this dignified, illiterate and strong-willed man: from Kabylia - where starving children, like Mohand-Said, fought with dogs for scraps - to the metal factory in Normandy, where his father would spend the rest of his days, consumed with providing for his family. It is there that Xavier discovers his love of books. When he breaks with conservative family traditions and confesses his attraction to men, Xavier will find which doors slam closed and which will open.
A Man With No Title is a beautiful and moving tribute to a father, to the immigrants condemned to undertake the hardest work for meagre reward, and to the power of literature to transcend class.
- | Author: Xavier Le Clerc, William Rodarmor
- | Publisher: Saqi Books
- | Publication Date: Oct 01, 2024
- | Number of Pages:
- | Language: eng
- | Binding: Hardback
- | ISBN-13: 9780863569821
- | ISBN-10: 086356982X
