Belgium (French): Reticence (Jean-Philippe Toussaint, trans. John Lambert)
Jean-Philippe Toussaint (b. 1957) works as a photographer and filmmaker in addition to his novel-writing. He has won the Prix Médicis, Prix Victor-Rossel, Prix Décembre, and the André Cavens Award for his work.
Background: In 843, the Treaty of Verdun divided Belgium into Middle and West Francia, resulting in a number of fiefdoms and kingdoms that were vassals to the King of France or the Holy Roman Emperor. In the 14th and 14th centuries many of these were united into the Burgundian Netherlands. During the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), this territory was divided into the United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands (ruled by the Spanish and then the Hapsburgs). During the French Revolution, much of the region was annexed by the First French Republic. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, the Empire was dissolved and went back to being called the United Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1830, when the Belgian Revolution led to separation of the Southern Provinces and to the establishment of an independent Belgium (French-speaking, Catholic) under Kind Leopold I. Belgium remains a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. During the first half of the 20th century, Dutch rose in importance and became recognized as an equal language. During both World Wars I and II, Germany invaded Belgium (known as "The Rape of Belgium" in the former), resulting in tens of thousands of deaths (including 20,000 Jews). By 1945, Belgium had been liberated, although King Leopold III was forced to abdicate in 1951 since many felt he had been a German collaborator. In the past decades, the linguistic disputes between the French and Flemish-speaking regions of the country have been increasingly heated, destabilizing the government, and which have been the subject of numerous government reforms.
This short novel is a bit weird. The narrator has come to beach town with his infant son apparently to visit a man named Biaggi. Yet, he does not immediately reach to Biaggi, instead creepily going around the town, even visiting the man's house, almost stalking him. He feels reticence, and this feeling starts from a tiny seed to grow into a pervasive and all-consuming emotion for the majority of the book. While the narrator's paranoia seems irrational, by the end of the book we are left wondering if Biaggi really is malevolent, and if the narrator is right all along. This book pulled me in especially around the middle, but it's not my favorite thing I've read by a long shot. A shrug of the shoulders.
