''Démolir Nisard'' (Demolishing Nisard) is a 2006 novel by the
French writer
Eric Chevillard.
Plot summary
The book is about the struggle of the narrator (who seems very much like the author himself) to annihilate
Désiré Nisard, a
French author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
and
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...
(1806–1888).
One of the characteristics of Nisard that so infuriates Chevillard's narrator is the fact that the critic so loathed the burgeoning modern
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
of his times.
[He railed against of the notion of decadence, attacking ]Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
and Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
in general. As Nisard considered that only
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...
had a value, Chevillard's book can also be considered a form of meta-criticism upon contemporary trends in
Literary criticism
A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...
.
Quotes
* ''"Rejoignez-moi. Mettons-nous à plusieurs ... contre tous les Nisard de la terre pour qui ...la littérature est un bien triste missel, une école de résignation. Le lecteur y vient tête basse entendre des sermons et des réprimandes ... La folie, la fantaisie, la satire, la hargne et le défi, la mélancolie et tous les autres soleils noirs de la poésie ont roulé dans le fossé."'' (''Join me. Let's do it together... against all Nisard's of the Earth who consider literature as a sad
missal
A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest ...
, a school of resignation. The reader comes there, head ducked, to listen to
sermon
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...
s and scoldings... foolishness, fantasy, satire, spite and challenge, melancholy and all the other black suns of poetry roll into the gutter'').
Footnotes
See also
*
Désiré Nisard
*
Decadent movement
The Decadent movement (from the French language, French ''décadence'', ) was a late 19th-century Art movement, artistic and literary movement, literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artif ...
External links
list of reviews on ''Les Editions de Minuit''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demolir Nisard
2006 French novels