Our next French night will host a play by Philippe Malone, 

http://www.theatre-video.net/video/Septembres-de-Philippe-Malone-Le-contexte-artistique

a french writer and photographer 

who works a lot in urban and peri-urban neighborhood.

He has written 15 plays, 

some of which were preformed on stage and on radio. 

The titles reveal his concern 

about the issues our consumers society brings up. 

- Septembres - Krach - 

Lost in a supermarket - Bien lotis

Bien lotis, 2013,  the play we are going to read on stage, 

is a "peri-urban epic", a "social comedy" 

which is based on the interview of a couple

 who lived in a project and then moved to their own private house, 

as their financial and social situation improved. 

"Bien lotis", which is almost impossible to translate, 

means that

they had a good house and

that they were successful 

and got their part of the cake. 

http://victoregea.fr/?fluxus_portfolio=bien-lotis

The play has 40 short scenes  which "attempt to highlight the great peri-urban epic through a blend of quizzes, commentaries and flashbacks briskly conducted by a journalist."
http://entractes.sacd.fr/en/oeuvre_print.php?idoeuvre=670

http://victoregea.fr/?fluxus_portfolio=bien-lotis

 Emmanuelle Ertel's Translation workshop students 

will translate part of the play for the evening.

Don't miss it

Please come and join us for a new french night

on Wednesday April 22

at 6 pm

at the Cornelia Street Cafe

28 Cornelia Street, NY 

Subway- W 4th

on 1,  2, 3, A, C, E

Patrick Modiano at the Cornelia Street Cafe- 2/25/15

We were thrilled to dedicate 

our latest French Night to Patrick Modiano’s novels.

Patrick Modiano was born in 1945.

He wrote his first novel when he was 22

and never stopped writing.
His bibliography includes almost 30 books. 

He received the Nobel Prize of Literature in 2014

just after publishing his latest novel. 

We enjoyed having

 old friends 

and new ones

new readers

and old ones

new translators and old ones

who came to join us despite the cold and the snow.

We picked three of Patrick Modiano's novels 
to follow him through his entire career. 

The first one was

 published in 1978 for which he received the Goncourt Award - 

one of the most famous awards in France since 1903. 

This novel was translated in 2005 by Daniel Weissbort 

and published by Verba Mundi

The second one was

This novel was published in 2008 

Its translation is by Chris Clarke 

and will be published 

by NYRB Classics in February 2016.

And last but not least, 

His latest novel

It was

published in September 2014 by Gallimard. 

Some excerpts were translated by 

Emmanuelle Ertel's translation workshop students 

 in NYU.

We got started by excerpts of  In The Cafe of lost Youth 

 read by Chris Clarke its translator and Frédéric-Charles Baitinger

Louki is the character people are looking for. 

Her husband hires a detective 

and we follow him in the second chapter of the novel

In the two last chapters of the book, the search goes on when 

one of Louki's partner tries to find her.

They scour Paris, going from place to place 

looking for Louki where she has been and where she might be,

but they never find her.

We went on with

 Rue des Boutiques Obscures,

 whose title in French is so captivating.

 Richard Normandon read in French

as Tom Radigan read the English translation

As in many of his other novels, we follow the search of a missing person,

 but this time the narrator, Guy Roland, is looking for himself. 

He has no memory. When Hutte, 

the boss of the detective agency he works for, 

retires,  he searches for clues in an attempt to discover his own identity. 

This quest leads him to uncover many characters 

who could have been part of his former life 

and could possibly identify him.

Then 

 Emmanuelle Ertel

and her students,

 from her translation workshop in NYU

Stephanie Queiroz

Tamar McCallan-Finkelman

Chelsea Flanagan

and

Jeremy Lakin

read their translation of

Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier.

"So you don't get lost"

while Emmanuelle read the French text.

Missing Person as a title could suit any of Modiano’s books

and in this latest novel there is a search as well.

The novel tells the story of an old writer - Jean Daragane - 

who is going to look for his own past 

because of an old address book 

someone returns to him. 

Some mysteries are never solved.

See below a link to a radio show 

where excerpts of Modiano's books are read 

by Guillaume Galllienne and Catherine Deneuve.

http://www.franceinter.fr/player/reecouter?play=1048019

Our next French night 

will take place 

in the Spring.

We'll be pleased to see you 

on Wednesday April 22

at 6 pm

for

a theater play.

Celebrating Patrick Modiano The 2014 Nobel Prize of Literature

Our next evening will be dedicated to Patrick Modiano 

who received the 2014 Nobel Prize of Literature.

We are so proud !

We love him !

From the beginning !

He is the 16th French writer to get this prize in a hundred years (Beckett included).

The award honored Patrick Modiano's many books set 

 in his beloved Paris. 

His characters are uncertain and most of the time they vanish.  The narrator 

then searches for them in his almost timeless city. 

That's the main plot of the three books we chose for our first French night of 2015.

In chronological order of appearance in his bibliography, we'll read excerpts of 

Rue des boutiques obscures - Missing person - that received the Goncourt prize in 1978 and was translated and published in English in 2005.

 

Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue - published in French in 2008

as, In the Cafe of Lost Youth.

The translation into English is by Chris Clarke. 

 It will be published by NYRB Classics in 2016. 

Our final selection is

Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier, 

published in september 2014 

a few weeks before Patrick Modiano won the Nobel prize.

So you don't get lost - was translated into English 

by Emmanuelle Ertel's translation workshop students in NYU.

Come and celebrate with our newest super hero

on Wednesday February 25th

form 6pm to 8pm

In our Literary cave at the Cornelia Street cafe

28 Cornelia Street,

New York (in the West Village)

W4th subway stop - A, E, C, 1, 2, 3

Patrick Modiano will also be celebrated through a talk between many other authors,

at Albertine, on Tuesday the 17th, 7 pm

http://www.albertine.com/events/reading-patrick-modiano/

Such a Merry Evening on 12/18/14

In our latest French night at the Cornelia
we celebrated 

French Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Fiction

Before we start, our faithful audience is coming in.

It is so nice to have you back.

Time for pictures !

Artistic ones !

People chat and begin to relax.

Some are even trying to figure out what will go on.

Let's get started.

We read excerpts of three novels  and we began by 

The novel tells the story of Bruno Kerjen, a lonesome engineer 

who doesn't want to move or change his life 

and whose only interest is pornographic phone calls. 

Isabelle Milkoff is reading the French text

while Lara Vergnaud is reading 

her own translation in English.

One day Bruno Kerjen runs into Marlene, 

his teenager sweetheart. This changes everything.

Then the evening went on with 

The Sleepworker/Deux jeunes artistes au chômage 

by Cyrille Martinez, 

"New York New York" is the set of this funny and amazing novel 
in which we follow two non-working artist characters, 
John  and Andy who go from one opening to another 
and find their way in the non-sleeping city. 

Patrick Stancil (left) and Maxime Touillet (right)

were the readers.

Patrick read his own translation while 

Maxime read the French text.

We had fun.

And last but not least

Tranvestite/Travesti by David Dumortier, 

was the third amazing novel we read.

In this autobiographic and powerful novel, 
the author is telling 

how he would write stories 
for children during the day 

and turn himself 
in a transvetite at night.

Emmanuelle Ertel read in French

while Grace Mc Quillan and  Carina Lacorata 

read

their and other students' translation. 

All are in Emmanuelle's NYU translation workshop.

After the reading

there was more talking,

more pictures,

more food,

and laughs.

Here is Emmanuelle saying good bye

and announcing our two next French Nights. 

They will take place on February the 25th
and April the 22nd

at 6 pm

at The Cornelia Street Cafe

Cornelia Street

New York New York

W 4th Street on A/E/1/2/3

We are looking forward to see you all!