comic novel
A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literar ...
by Stephen Clarke first published in 2004 under the pen name Paul West. In later editions, the author's real identity was revealed. In France, the book title is ''God save la France''.
Paul West is in fact the first-person narrator, a 27-year-old Englishman, single and unattached, who is recruited by a French entrepreneur and given a one-year contract in Paris to plan and organise a chain of
tea room
A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...
s which his employer wants to open in the French capital. The novel covers fictional events of that year, starting in September 2002 and ending in the summer of 2003.
Set at the time of the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, ''A Year in the Merde'' is about the cultural differences between the British and the French, which are somewhat heightened by the war, especially by the opposing views on the invasion held by Blair and Chirac respectively. The French reaction to the strong
anti-French sentiment in the United States
Anti-French sentiment in the United States has consisted of unfavorable estimations of the French government, culture, language or people of France by people in the United States of America spurred on by media and government leaders.
18th century ...
is also captured in the novel.
The book also brings out the ambivalent attitude of the French towards the citizens of their capital, Paris, which is treated almost as a foreign country. The character Paul in his attempts to assimilate (mainly to improve his sex-life) also contrasts other aspects of French society, in particular French bureaucracy and higher education, with the "system" in Britain.
A sequel, '' Merde Actually'' ('' In the Merde for Love'' in the USA), was published in 2005. As it suggests, the title is based on the film ''
Love Actually
''Love Actually'' is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television proje ...
''. A second sequel, '' Merde Happens'', was published in the UK in 2007 and was released in the US in the summer of 2008. A fourth book 'Dial M for Merde' was released in the UK in September 2008.
Table of Contents
SEPTEMBRE: ''Never the Deux Shall Meet'' Why the French distrust all English, and more particularly anyone who can't speak French (for example, ''moi'').
OCTOBRE: ''One Foot in the Merde'' I visit different parts of Paris, touristy and less so, treading in plenty of dog-poop, literal and metaphorical.
NOVEMBRE: ''Make Yourself Chez Moi'' Looking for an apartment. The garret myth — shared hole-in-the-floor toilets are "romantic"?
DÉCEMBRE: ''God Save the Cuisine'' With my palate attuned to French cuisine, I try my best to get nostalgic about British food.
JANVIER: ''A Maison in the Country'' I discover the EU-subsidized quaintness of rural France and decide to buy a suspiciously cheap cottage.
FÉVRIER: ''Make Amour, Not War'' Tensions as the Iraq war looms. Meanwhile, a girl tries her best to turn me into a Latin lover with an intensive course in French sexual traditions.
MARS: ''The Joy of Suppositories'' I explore France's wildly generous medical system and even try out typical French "treatment by the back door."
AVRIL: ''Liberté, égalité, Get Out of My Way'' I find that the French are secretly quite fond of English speakers after all. This is especially true of the exotic Florence.
MAI: ''1968 and All That'' With countless long weekends, holiday allowances to be used up, and the inevitable strikes, the French know that if you haven't finished your year's work by May 1, you're in the ''merde''.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title of the book refers, in a
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
ical way, to all the difficult situations Paul West finds himself in during his stay in France, but also, literally, to the huge amount of dog
excrement
Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relat ...
that can be found in the streets of Paris in this fiction. "A Year in the
Merde
''Shit'' is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British a ...
" is also an allusion to ''
A Year in Provence
''A Year in Provence'' is a 1989 best-selling memoir by Peter Mayle about his first year in Provence, and the local events and customs. It was adapted into a television series starring John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan. Reviewers praised the book's ho ...
'' by
Peter Mayle
Peter Mayle ( "mail"; 14 June 1939 – 18 January 2018) was a British businessman turned author who moved to France in the 1980s. He wrote a series of bestselling memoirs of his life there, beginning with '' A Year in Provence'' (1989).
Early l ...
, an earlier work on Anglo-French cultural relations.
In the same way, the title ''Merde Actually'' is a further allusion to the film Love Actually ' (2003) starring Hugh Grant. In both cases there is a vein of light comedy exploited by director and author respectively. There is the additional coincidence that ''Love Actually'' came out in the year in which Stephen Clarke was writing ''A Year in the Merde'' and its sequel ''Merde Actually'', and relating it to the war in Iraq which was staged at that time – to the detriment of Franco- US relations.
Reference to Shakespeare and Company bookstore
At some point, Paul is invited by his friend Jake to a second-hand English bookstore in front of Notre-Dame-de-Paris, where most of the activity is taking place on the second floor, with expats from all over the world. This is a reference to the '' Shakespeare and Company'' bookstore, in Paris.
Plot summary
When Paul West starts his new job in September he is altogether unaware of the true character and the machinations of his boss, Jean-Marie Martin, who is in his early fifties, rich, handsome, impeccably dressed, friendly, and prepared to pay him a good salary. West does not know yet that Martin, officially decorated for supporting the French economy, is illegally importing cheap British beef (the ban imposed during the BSE crisis not having been lifted yet); that through his political connections he has secured for his daughter Élodie a cheap, council- subsidised ''
HLM
An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies.
HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.nuclear power plant.
West is allotted a motley crew who are supposed to work together on his project. However, everyone, including Martin, turns out to be very reluctant to learn what West has to tell them, for example that "My Tea Is Rich" is not a good name for a chain of English tea rooms. Soon West realises that no one is following his orders, that nothing is happening, that he is being paid for doing, or at least achieving, absolutely nothing. In the end, his contract is prematurely terminated, and he spends some weeks
teaching
Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely ...
English. ("It was much tougher than working in an office. You can't e-mail your mates while standing in front of a class.")
His love life during that year is an emotional rollercoaster ride. In all, West has sex with four different women during that year: Élodie, his boss's daughter; Alexa, who eventually cannot put up with his apolitical outlook on life; Marie, a black girl who willingly drops him when her boyfriend returns from abroad; and Florence, half Indian, the girl with whom he plans to open his own tea room in Paris at the end of the novel.