Laurent Mauvignier, Des hommes: what makes a good page-turner?

Abstract

Under what conditions can one write a “truly good novel” about the Algerian War, while avoiding the traps of moralizing, hindsight judgment, or overwhelming documentation? In Des hommes, Mauvignier chooses to approach “the events” through the lives of ordinary men who were burned alive by them. He portrays conscious minds without rhetoric, bodies and sensitivities torn apart.