L'Enragé par Sorj Chalandon (review)

Reviewed by: L'Enragé par Sorj Chalandon Eilene Hoft-March Chalandon, Sorj. L'Enragé. Grasset his father unburdens himself of child-rearing on his own aged parents; they, in turn, treat him as a costly interloper. Lacking affection and care, the youngster turns to petty larcenies driven first by hunger and later by easy, unchecked habit. In league with some older orphans, 13-year-old Bonneau loyally associates himself with their desperate and criminal acts of defiance. As a result, he is condemned to Belle-Île until his majority. The author does not mince words: he details the hard labor, poor nutrition, and mistreatment of the boys (verbal abuse, beatings, rapes). Wardens invent sickeningly creative punishments such as handcuffing a child outdoors for an entire night or forcing him to walk in circles barefoot for hours on end. This unabated cruelty hardens Bonneau but also confirms his sense of injustice and solidarity with and protectiveness toward the most vulnerable of his fellow inmates. The narrative drives relentlessly from one chapter to the next, with few glimpses of human kindness until Bonneau meets Ronan, a sardine fisherman who takes his chances with the young fugitive. Ronan's wife, Sophie, is a nurse whose life's work is motivated by risk-filled compassion. The story's tense pace credibly conveys the constant threat Bonneau lives under as a wanted "man" and as a liability for those in his tiny circle of trusted friends. Moreover, the first-person internal monologue used throughout the novel realistically portrays the boy's hypervigilance: Bonneau foresees plausible dangers everywhere, anticipating his own potential responses, most of them violent. We are to understand that these are the psychic reflexes instilled by his state-supported, penitentiary "education." Belle-Île closed in 1977 (only), but in his dedication, Chalandon recognizes that its cruel practices survive—and not only in penal institutions: "À tous ceux qui crevèrent d'ennui au collège ou qu'on fit pleurer dans la famille/Qui, pendant leur enfance, furent tyrannisés par leurs maîtres ou rossés par leurs parents" (7). Attentive readers will not fail to empathize. End Page 133 Eilene Hoft-March Lawrence University (WI) Copyright © 2024 American Association of Teachers of French