When something upsets you, you might as well have fun with it. Hence this little exercise carried out on an ordinary article, in this case, mine, previously devoted to the new novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, Blonde dust (Albin Michel). With a little imagination, unfortunately not as broad as that, this is what it could give.
“Summer 1960, we are in Reno, Nevada. Pauline, 21 years old, the heroine of the new novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, is an unmarried mother. She was seduced by the cynical Spencer, deputy director of the the city’s flagship hotel, the Mapes Hotel, which, as a result, found her a job in her establishment: she is responsible for cleaning the ladies’ toilets. A situation which impacts the morale of the woman we call the Frenchie – born in Paris, she arrived here with her mother married to a GI mechanic originally from this town in Nevada known for its systemic divorces. But an encounter will radically impact the life of Pauline, whose dream, at first, was to become an equine veterinarian.
On a beautiful day, in fact, she was asked to prioritize suite 614. She was able and carried out her task, frightened by the reigning “mess” – in short, piles of empty alcohol bottles and pill bottles. She comes across a haggard woman, with red eyes and a pale complexion, a certain Mrs Miller. She doesn’t get it – the situation is counterintuitive – but, no worries, Marilyn Monroe, that’s her, doesn’t hold it against her. In reality, she came to shoot under the direction of John Huston what will be her last film, The Unhingedthe adaptation of Misfits, of Arthur Miller, her husband, with whom relations are most stormy. In the end, a real friendship will be established between Pauline and the star, as unhinged as the Roslyn of the legendary film, who will leave two years later, at the age of 36. So much for the narrative and the language elements of Blonde dust.”
But let’s stop there this parody of political-media-popular-young criticism and these gibberish elements of language on This novel.
We would have liked to be able to also mention “scorer”, “hole in the racket”, “typically”, “with pleasure”, “above ground”, etc. Do your eyes hurt? It is in the ears that we suffer every day, in the street, on the radio, on television… So, good people of politics, set an example, stand out from the vulgar language, use the right preposition, look for the synonym, draw on our beautiful French language. One hope remains: fashions are not eternal. So one day we will stop flying over Reno, Paris or an establishment. We will then perhaps no longer be impacted, if not touched, concerned, affected, marked, upset… by these linguistic practices and we will stop worrying indiscriminately. Although! One fashion chases the other, we know that well.
.