Book Reviews • Storytelling | Heatwave! Apathy and Heatwaves in French Literature

After August, August would come around again. 

Heat waves are sweeping the world. On the day of the Wenchuan earthquake, Chongqing was also very hot. On a May day, when I escaped from the building and sat on the curb, my butt burned. Not three months later, it has been sunny for forty days. The daily temperature is also above 40 degrees Celsius. The districts and counties around Chongqing have cut off electricity, because the 24-hour air conditioner can no longer bear, the people cursed the promise when the Three Gorges were built - "Eight cents per kilowatt hour of electricity and Chongqing will become a city that never sleeps and a small Hong Kong" turned out to be a mirage, The submerged White Emperor City turned out to be nothing but a sin of the ages. Suddenly, it was 14 years ago . 14 years ago, the swearing of people in Chongqing around me has not dissipated, and there is no other meaning. I have always liked this city and the direct and cheerful people who live in this city. I have been to many cities and lived in many cities, but there are few places like Chongqing with an almost collective hot temper. I don’t know if it is because it is a stove, whether it is the weather or the people, it makes you feel the heat wave.

Heat waves are mind blowing. 14 years ago, I took the green leather train into Chongqing. Over the Qinling Mountains, a piece of scorched earth! All the plants and crops have dried up and died, and leaving Shaanxi seems to have entered the desert. 14 years later, Chongqing is still the stove, and Europe has ushered in an unprecedented heat wave. But in fact, the "heat wave" and a series of people's reactions and chain events caused by the heat wave have been seen frequently in French literature. This time, this "HEATWAVE" tells a story that happened on the last Friday in August.

 "It was all too bright, too cheerful, for someone to be dead."

17-year-old Leonard and many other young people came to the campsite by the sea. Some young people come with their parents and siblings, such as Leonard, and some young people come with their mothers, such as Oscar. I don't know what readers are like, but I'm definitely one of those people who sneaks away at parties and walks around the neighborhood, and Leonard is the same. However, on a sneaky exit at the campsite, Leonard saw Oscar hanging himself not far away. Leonard didn't come to the rescue, but watched Oscar struggle and die.

That's the story that happened on the last Friday in August. Everything after that begins here.

The behavior of the 17-year-old may be "indifferent" in the eyes of most people, however, a philosophical question was born. If a person is bent on dying, should we rescue him when he is begging for death? However, Leonard saw Oscar's reluctance to die and changed his mind when he was struggling before he died, and he still didn't help.

A 17-year-old boy stood not far away and watched another 17-year-old boy die while struggling...

It is not the first time in French literature that this almost philosophical question of life and death and the indifference that arises in modern society. The classic beginning of Camus' "The Outsider" also wrote incisively and vividly his reflections on his indifference and his inner indifference - Meursault went to his mother's funeral but did not shed a single tear. He understood his indifference and his struggle; In such modern literary classics, there is another magical place, that is, the "Heatwave" that can kill people - the heat wave in North Africa in "The Outsider" can make people kill on impulse; the heat wave in "Heatwave" makes a dog crazy I have bitten my child; I also left the campers on the beach burnt and scorched. After reading the whole book, I felt that I could smell the stink of corpses and see the searing heat wave that scorched people...

The book "Heatwave" did not have rave reviews on Goodreads, and the score was very low; on the other hand, France was very fond of this work written by the young writer Victor Jestin, who was only 25 years old. Even I was compared with him. Sagan's comparable comment appealed. Sagan used to be a hit in China, and she wrote "Hello, Sadness" in her 18-year-old youth, which is really fascinating. Then, "Heat Wave" is a more realistic and more depressing "Hello, Sadness". It focuses not on unruly youth, but on repressed sex, life and death, and the understanding of life in the cardamom age... just like 👇The words in this book can best sum up everything:

 Here, they were all happy and yet, at the same time, all lost, fucked over, left on the sidelines of adolescence. 

More than ten years ago, I myself was one of those lost children who had the most determined direction in life😶‍🌫️. Looking back now, I can still remember how I felt at that time. The smell of wine at that time, the wind in my ears at that time...

After all, many "August" have passed, "After August, August would come around again." August will come back again.

I participated in the water blowing meeting of "Suffix", I am very grateful to have the opportunity to share a little writing experience, and also thank you for your support 🙏@Jeger. I haven't been writing more coherently recently because I've been busy, and I've piled up a lot of books I've read. I thought about it, and I am very happy to be able to open a microphone to share, so I have an idea, open a snapchat, record the books I have read, welcome to subscribe .