Plan of Occupancy

by Jean Echenoz, Mark Polizzotti (Translator)

« Ce petit livre, tout frais sorti de la machine à écrire de Jean Echenoz, est, n'ayons pas peur des mots, une petite merveille. [...] Cela raconte l'histoire d'un homme et de son fils dont la seule image de l'épouse et mère défunte qu'ils peuvent contempler est peinte sur un immeuble dans un quartier en rénovation. On est ébloui par l'inspiration, par le style, par la cocasserie, par l'impressionnante efficacité narrative d'Echenoz. Si quelqu'un vous propose d'échanger 90 % des romans français publiés depuis un an contre ces seize pages-là, n'hésitez pas, acceptez, c'est une bonne affaire ! » (Pierre Lepape, Le Monde)

Genres: Fiction, Roman, Short Stories, French Literature, France

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1988

About the author

Jean Echenoz is a prominent French novelist, many of whose works have been translated into English, among them Chopin’s Move (1989), Big Blondes (1995), and most recently Ravel (2008) and Running (2009).

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mother dies, consumed by the flames when her home combusts, together with everything that belonged to her and to her family, including the photographs of her. The only material trace that is left of her is a gigantic mural advertisement for perfume for which she once posed as a model, in a low-cut blue dress, painted on the side-wall of a building on the Quai de Valmy in Paris. As an externalized act of remembrance, the bereaved father and son undertake a pilgrimage walk every Sunday to take a look at the effigy on the building. As transience belongs to the very nature of the ever changing cityscape, the remnants of the motherly image are not only exposed to the erosive force of weather and wind, but are also threatened by a new plan of occupation as the adjacent old building is demolished and replaced by a new construction portending to efface the mother’s portrait. Ultimately, father and son will move to live in an apartment in the new building, seeking to get as close as possible to the portrait.



(Photograph by Lea Marzloff)

In an utterly laconic and exiguous style, sharpening his story with both subtle irony and sardonic humor, Echenoz uses the motherly portrait as an allegory for the obliteration generated by time, how our lives fall in oblivion after our death, how we vanish first physically and then by fading from the memory of our loved ones – illustrating simultaneously their throbbing need not to forget.

It would be an understatement to call this bleak story unconventional. Its extreme brevity is to be considered a literary statement in contrast to the conventional aesthetical literary taste for the baroque or personal epic novel. As it barely offers characterization, plot or dialogue, it is downright minimalistic in its approach of substantial themes like death, grief, loss and the longing to cling to what is irretrievably lost and sorely missed.

In all its frugality however, this story resembles life, in which we often have to deal with fragmentation and sparsity also. Somehow we have to occupy the ruins, to content ourselves with the crumbles, to pick up the pieces and live on with the little that is left behind of what once was so precious.




This was my second encounter with the contemporary French writer Jean Echenoz (the first was 14, about WWI) and as this brief work (14 pages) is known for standing quite apart in his oeuvre (now 18 novels and récits), both with respect to length and nature of the story, the voyage to explore his work is to be continued.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vu le prix que j'ai payé à ces 14 pages, le fait qu'elles soient très belles me semble le moins.

Considerato quanto ho pagato queste 14 pagine, il fatto che fossero molto belle mi sembra il minimo.

[Sarah]

Seize pages de texte mais toute une palette d'émotions, le souvenir et l'oubli.

[1001 Chapitres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il ne reste de Sylvie Fabre qu’une immense fresque publicitaire vantant un parfum capiteux. Son mari et son fils se rappellent donc d’elle en visitant religieusement cette fresque tous les dimanches. Mais la ville, évidemment, est implacable et les nouvelles constructions menacent…

J’ai retrouvé ici la plume drôle et poétique de Jean Echenoz que j’avais déjà beaucoup appréciée dans « 14 ». Ce récit très court sur le deuil et le souvenir n’a pas manqué de m’émouvoir.

[Mikhail Biriuchinskii · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est une histoire très concise et profondément intime. L'image de la perte de quelque chose d'important est décrite par l'écrivain à grands traits, permettant de multiples analogies. Selon moi, pour rendre cette œuvre plus poétique, il n'aurait pas fallu inclure un enfant dans cette histoire. Malgré cela, je reviens souvent à ces 14 pages.

[Brulois Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livre d'une belle inventivité. Et le style d'Echenoz avec ses pointes d'humour, emporte.

[Mathieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

"On gratte, on gratte, et puis très vite on respire mal, on sue, il commence à faire terriblement chaud"

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une histoire étrange et touchante. Un texte court, mais efficace. Il y a tellement de non-dits dans ce récit qu’il serait possible de faire une thèse sur ces 16 pages !

[Giocina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una pennellata. O un quadro?