Disturbance

Description

A moving and intimate account of survival, resilience, and reconstruction. Paris. January 7, 2015, two terrorists attacked the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Philippe Lancon, seriously wounded, was among the survivors. This intense life experience upends his relationship to the world, to writing, to reading, to love and to friendship. It took him a year before he could return to writing, a year of frequent reconstructive surgeries, to work through his experiences and their aftermath. As he attempts to reconstruct his life on the page, Lancon rereads Proust, Thomas Mann, Kafka, and others in search of guidance and healing. Disturbance is not an essay on terrorism nor is it a witness's account of Charlie Hebdo, and it's certainly not a "feel good book." The attack and what followed make up a small portion of Lancon's narrative, which instead seeks to provide the most honest and intimate reproduction possible of the interior experience of a man who was a victim, who suffered a "war wound" in a country "at peace." Disturbance is a book about transformation, about one man's shifting relationship to time, to truth, and to his own body.

Philippe Lancon is a French journalist and writer. He was born in 1963. Steven Rendall is an award-winning translator from French and German, professor emeritus of Romance Languages at the University of Oregon and editor of Comparative Literature. He currently lives in France.

"One victim's powerful response to the 2015 massacre favours philosophy and wit over anger and polemic." * The Observer * "A frank, relentless, gripping memoir that illustrates both man's inhumanity to man and how quiet resolution can reclaim and restore." * Kirkus (starred review) * On 7 January 2015, terrorists burst into the offices of the satirical magazine, killing 12 people. In an extract from his new book, published to huge acclaim in France, here is one survivor's astonishing story https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/06/charlie-hebdo-attack-survivor-philippe-lancon -- Philippe Lancon * The Guardian * "An extraordinary book." * Elle * "Thoroughly gripping.... Intimate and absorbing portrayal of both a man and a country in recovery." * France Magazine * "An undeniable, absolute masterpiece." * Le Figaro Magazine * "A remarkable journal of mourning." * Le Monde des Livres * Best book of the year 2018 * Les Inrockuptibles * "Lancon's searing memoir of the attack on the satirical weekly publication Charlie Hebdo by two terrorists in Paris on 7 January, 2015, details how it cleaved his life in two. [...] Lancon won the Prix Femina for this eloquent book of witness and recovery." -- Jane Ciabattari * BBC Culture * "In Disturbance - a literary sensation in France when it was published last year - the critic documents, in excruciating details, his physical and emotional reconstruction to understand the man he has become.... Lancon's memoir, subtly translated by Steven Rendall, gives an uneasy feeling of voyeurism at times, such as when he depicts his surroundings once silence fell on the murder scene - the open skull of his friend lying nearby; the discovery of his own injuries; shreds of flesh in place of his lower jaw. And yet, amid the horrific images, literature arises. It is a process that leaves the reader shaken and is one that Lancon admits he himself fails to grasp." * The Financial Times * "[Disturbance] is a fascinating and often sobering read, one that offers insight into human fragility as well as resilience." * World Literature Today * Lancon's reaction has been to write a series of columns of power and grace. With a kind of detached, chilled compassion he has detailed the long, agonising rebuilding of a face and a life: the sequence of operations; his first confident speech; the first time he recognised himself in the mirror; his first shave. Lancon writes brilliantly about the nurses, the doctors and the policemen who now protect him. It is astonishing writing. Bleak yet warm and triumphantly human. -- Robert McLiam Wilson * The Irish Times * "When two terrorists attacked the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, journalist Philippe Lancon, though seriously wounded, was among the survivors. In this extraordinary memoir which moves back and forth across his whole life, and delves deep into his creative influences, he writes about what it took to rebuild his life both in reality, and on the page." * The Booksellers (Editor's Choice) * "Intense." * Les Inrockuptibles * Best book of the year 2018 * LIRE Magazine * French journalist Philippe Lancon - who was injured in the deadly attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015 - has won an acclaimed literary prize. Appearing in public for the first time since the incident, Lancon collected the Femina prize for his book Le Lambeau in Paris. The book details the terrorist attack, which saw two Islamic militants shoot dead 12 people and injure 11 others, as well as Lancon's slow recovery after being shot in the face, leaving him in a critical condition. * The Independent *