Eric Chevillard. Sans l'orang-outan.

Whisman, Albert Samuel

Eric Chevillard.Sans l'orang-outan. Paris. Minuit. 2007. 192 pages. 14 [euro]. ISBN 978-2-7073-2006-3

It is quite likely that anyone even remotely familiar with the novels of Eric Chevillard would agree that his writing takes some getting used to. His sentences are serpentine, and almost every paragraph represents a new notion or consequence, leaving the reader often perplexed and wondering why certain sections of the novel exist at all.

However, for those who are both persistent and patient, the reward of truly remarkable writing awaits. Indeed, Chevillard can be funny and extremely witty, producing innovative results from recognizable techniques long thought outdated. His latest novel is no exception, and readers will assuredly notice a veritable jubilation in writing, as well as a contemporary spin on "the pleasure of the text."

In Sans l'orang-outan (Without the orangutan), Chevillard invites his readers to imagine a world without the presence of the orangutan and, in turn, the consequences associated with their extinction. The novel consists essentially of three segments. The first describes Bagus and Mina, the last two remaining orangutans, and their relationship with their caregiver, Albert Moindre.

The death of the couple announces the second section, which describes different scenarios based on the premise of this death. Albert copes with his loss by reconditioning several zoo employees to behave like a community of orangutans, with himself serving as dictator. Eventually Bagus and Mina are placed under protective glass and put on display. Albert continues his care for the animals, all the while harboring scorn and contempt at their reduction to mere museum artifacts.

At this point many readers may expect the novel to end, but instead a third segment is included, in which the possibility of the continued existence of the orangutan is posited via genetic manipulation. There is no closure, and the scenario of scientific progress is pitted against the mistakes of the past.

Chevillard's most remarkable originality perhaps lies in his choice of subject. Sans l'orang-outan, while examining a world without the orangutan, also presents an acute conceptualization of contemporary ecological discourse. From this discourse emerges the end of the orangutan, the return of man to a primitive state, and the establishment of a primal balance. The notion of the end is thus juxtaposed with the prospect of eternal life through cloning, and the contemporary nature of the subject invites the reader to live no longer in regret and complaint as if everything in the past has amounted to nothing in the present. The non-closure of the novel seems to suggest that the true beauty of humanity can and should continue despite the regret of past mistakes. The lessons of Bagus and Mina should bear witness, then, not only to our individual responsibilities for the environment but also to our power as human beings and our capacity to progress toward a more balanced state, avoiding the dangerous digression toward a more primitive world.

Albert Samuel Whisman

University of Oklahoma