• 1 Luc Boltanski, Mysteries and Conspiracies: Detective Stories, Spy Novels, and the Making of Moder (...)

1Xabi Molia’s 2007 novel Reprise des hostilités paints the portrait of a France teetering on the edge of the twenty-first century, afflicted by a literal “decomposition”, where everything rings false: feelings, language, political discourse, and even the afterlife. At the same time, another narrative grows in the interstices, nourished by quotations from the great writers of the twentieth century, and writing emerges as a potential last form of resistance and recognition for those left behind by the movement of History. Employing and subverting the codes of the spy novel, Molia stages what Luc Boltanski describes as “the confrontation between an apparent but illusory reality and a real but hidden reality” on an astonishing variety of levels1.

• 2 Anne-Aël Durand, “‘Roman national’, ‘récit national’ : de quoi parle-t-on? ”, Le Monde, 28 Septem (...)

4Molia’s novel anticipates the rise of a Donald Trump-like political figure and interrogates the ways in which national historical narratives are instrumentalized for present-day political purposes. In particular, it engages with the notion of French history envisioned as a “récit national”, to employ François Fillon’s phrasing that sparked polemics in 2016 prior to the French presidential elections: “Le récit national, c’est une Histoire faite d’hommes et de femmes, de symboles, de lieux, de monuments, d’événements qui trouvent un sens et une signification dans l’édification progressive de la civilisation singulière de la France”2.

• 3 Mark Lilla, The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction, New York, New York Review Books, 2016, p (...)
• 4 Ibid., p. xiv.
• 5 Sophie Gherardi, “Pierre Nora: ‘Le nationalisme nous a caché la nation’”, Le Monde, 26 March 2007 (...)
• 6 Ibid.

5This desire to create a national narrative is acutely powerful, coming at a time when France feels adrift from its traditional moorings. As Mark Lilla argues in his study on reactionary political thought, “[o]ver the past quarter-century, French society has undergone changes that almost no one is happy with, and neither left-leaning intellectuals nor centrist politicians seem capable of addressing them satisfactorily”3. Lilla notes that such conditions create a fertile environment for nostalgia, which he argues “can be a powerful political motivator, perhaps even more powerful than hope”4. Pierre Nora evokes an explicitly literary term when discussing the traditional nostalgic account of French history, describing it as a “roman national” stretching “de la Gaule à de Gaulle”.5 For Nora, that model of traditional history as novel — “l’ancienne identité nationale, celle qui associait le passé et l’avenir dans un sentiment de continuité, de filiation et de projet”—has come to an end, and the question of what will come next remains to be defined6.

• 7 Lionel Ruffel, Le dénouement, Paris, Verdier, 2005, p. 46-47.

6In Le dénouement, Lionel Ruffel traces a connection between the disappearance of an overarching coherent historical narrative and a blossoming of formal innovations in contemporary literature. Ruffel describes a recurring theme in a group of recent French novels, namely, the depiction of liminal or transitional states that call into question conventional notions of beginnings and endings. He claims that such scenes can be read as “[une] problématisation de la fin [qui] sert de cadre narratif et diégétique aux livres”7. Ruffel sees this tendency as an attempt to resituate the novel within a literary and historical context unsettled by the events of the late twentieth century. He argues :

• 9 Ibid., p. 88.

7Ruffel claims that as writers begin to question those notions in their fiction, they tend to employ narrative forms that undermine the underlying teleological assumptions that structure such arguments about “the end”. In particular, he takes notice of “la récurrence […] de ces fins qui ouvrent l’histoire”9. Just such an “ending” opens Reprise des hostilités, as on the very first page of the novel, Marin wakes up dead. More specifically, he awakens in a strange bed, in what appears to be a nondescript hotel room, and his evident confusion is played against the reader’s uncertainty as both reader and Marin attempt to make sense of Marin’s situation.

• 10 Peter Brooks, Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative, New York, Vintage, 1985, p (...)
• 11 Ibid., p. 22.
• 12 Xabi Molia, Reprise des hostilités, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 2007, p. 52, from now on RH.

8Peter Brooks claims in Reading for the Plot that “[n]arrative is one of the large categories or systems of understandings that we use in our negotiations with reality, specifically, in the case of narrative, with the problem of temporality: man’s time-boundedness, his consciousness of existence within the limits of mortality”10. From the conventional notion that it is “death that writes finis to the life and therefore confers on it its meaning”, it logically follows that in narrative, “only the end can finally determine meaning, close the sentence as a signifying totality”11. Indeed, as Marin is informed, one of the most popular activities in the afterlife is the composition of “les récits de vie […]. On aide les gens à remettre en forme leur itinéraire, pour qu’ils puissent donner du sens à ce qu’ils ont fait”12. Marin’s death, however, rather than providing a sense of closure, opens the door onto a new realm of narrative possibility. His death serves as a hinge, both endpoint and beginning for the two narrative strands that compose Marin’s story.

• 13 The majority of the principal plot line takes place in 1999 and 2000.

9Following the loss of his job at a business run into the ground by Joseph Bel, Marin’s father drives his car into a tree, dying instantly. Obsessed by his father’s death, for which he holds Bel responsible, Marin vows to avenge his father and slowly infiltrates Bel’s inner circle. Bel’s rise as a politician from small-town mayor to the founder of his own political party with presidential aspirations takes place against the backdrop of a clearly identified France at the turn of a new millennium13. His populist, anti-European Union, anti-immigrant politics reflect and play off contemporary anxieties about France’s place in the world at the start of the twenty-first century. Bel’s rapid ascension over the course of the novel demonstrates the efficacy of such discourses, which have echoed throughout Europe.

• 14 Ruth Cruickshank, Fin de Millénaire French Fiction: The Aesthetics of Crisis, Oxford, Oxford Univ (...)

10In her book on fin de millénaire French fiction, Ruth Cruickshank highlights a perceived crisis of “l’exception française, a nexus of identity narratives—economic, political, diplomatic, cultural, and indeed, literary—felt to be under increasingly severe threat from global market economics”14. It is precisely that anxiety that Joseph Bel seeks to exploit in his grasp for political relevance. In a pivotal scene, Bel organizes a grand celebration in Poitiers to commemorate the turning of the millennium, evoking the past to introduce his vision of the future. Dressed as Charles Martel, the Frankish ruler who halted the advance of Muslim forces in the Battle of Poitiers in the year 732, Bel declares, “si j’ai choisi ce lieu symbole pour entrer avec vous dans le nouveau millénaire, c’est parce que je crois en l’avenir […]. Notre civilisation française est merveilleuse, […] et nous sommes le témoignage vivant d’une glorieuse histoire” (RH 149). Bel’s evocation of French exceptionalism is calculated for maximum political impact, but the hollowness of his discourse is revealed later in the novel, when he decides that his traditionalist rhetoric has become politically ineffective and he abruptly decides to change course in his political platform:

• 15 For a televised interview with Bel, see RH 343. Magazine articles discussing Bel appear on pages (...)

11Bel’s discourse provides a pungent commentary on the contemporary French political landscape. Bel is ruthless with his political rivals, media-savvy, and good on camera. Throughout the novel, Molia demonstrates the centrality of the media in the construction of Bel’s image through the elaboration of a tightly woven web of references to television appearances, magazine profiles, and books written both by and about Bel15.

• 16 Jean-François Lyotard, La condition postmoderne : Rapport sur le savoir, Paris, Minuit, 1979, p. (...)

12As Marin becomes increasingly complicit with Bel, writing his speeches and composing his biography, he begins to feel more and more culpable. Marin considers the end of the twentieth century, the moment in which he is living, as a historical turning point, and wonders what will come next, following what Jean-François Lyotard referred to as “la fin des grands récits”16:

• 18 Allan Hepburn, Intrigue: Espionage and Culture, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2005, p. xv.
• 19 Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, London, Jonathan Cape, 1953, p. 71.

17Allen Hepburn considers “the spy as a locus for cultural fantasies”18, and the trappings of success that attend Marin’s infiltration into Bel’s inner circle prove quite alluring. Although he is appalled by Bel’s rhetoric and ashamed by their association, Marin is quickly seduced by the perks and the affluence that accompany his new lifestyle, moving into a new apartment in a trendy neighborhood. As time goes on, Marin grows more comfortable, and his plans to avenge his father lose their urgency: “Une vie nouvelle commençait. En bas, dans la rue Montorgueil, il achetait de bon pain, des entrecôtes, des fromages fermiers et des vins étrangers. […] Peu à peu, son projet de vengeance s’était éloigné de lui” (RH 205–206). In the first James Bond novel Casino Royale (1953), Bond declares “I take a ridiculous pleasure in what I eat. It comes partly from being a bachelor but mostly from a habit of taking a lot of trouble over details”19. Marin obsesses over the furnishings in his new apartment, and his new prosperity offers him an immediate sense of belonging, predicated upon a shared sense of economic and cultural capital:

• 20 James Chapman, “‘Women Were For Recreation’: The Gender Politics of Ian Fleming’s James Bond”, in (...)

19That artifice pervades the world of the afterlife, where Marin’s spy fantasy reaches its apotheosis. Paradise is not a place for leisurely contemplation—there are hardly any novels to be found in the library—rather, there are Formula 1 races and soccer matches, not to mention kayaking, beach volleyball, and bikini contests. As James Chapman notes, “Like Playboy, the Bond novels construct a male fantasy world of sexually available females”20. Paradise initially embodies these stereotypical male clichés and Marin swaggers through a bustling casino with a beautiful woman on his arm. The nubile women in the illusory reality of Paradise incarnate a fantasy of women as indistinguishable and interchangeable objects designed for sexual pleasure, and indeed, Caroline, Marin’s sexual partner in Paradise, briefly assuages the feelings of sexual inadequacy that plague Marin on earth. Yet as the veil is ripped away and the true nature of Paradise is revealed, Marin’s fantasy crumbles as he is forced to confront the reality hidden beneath the surface.

• 21 Allan Hepburn, op. cit., p. 49.
• 22 Luc Boltanski, op. cit., p. 125.

21B is an ideal reader, deciphering the coded message left behind by Marin. Hepburn argues that “[c]haracters, actions, numbers, and words in spy narratives have to be translated into other representational systems and contexts before they yield meaning. The clever interpreter—whether an agent within the text or a reader outside the text—moves adeptly among metaphorical, literal, and numerical systems to read aright”21. This dizzying mise-en-abyme allows Marin to become the unsung hero of an epic tale of good versus evil. Indeed, in his fantasy, “Marin avait contribué, modestement mais tout de même, au sauvetage de la République. Marin avait bousculé le cours de l’Histoire. […] Et c’est ainsi, après cet implacable enchaînement de circonstances, que Marin retrouverait son rang” (RH 187). In this way, Marin assumes the heroic stature of a figure from a spy novel, in Boltanski’s formulation: “It then falls to some individual lacking any official mandate—just a regular person, but one endowed with a conscience, intelligence, and uncommon courage—to ensure the defence of society, at his own risk”22.

• 23 In “Le Livre d’un jeune homme,” a short text that appears as one of the two “Annexes” that close (...)

22Confronted with his inadequate projects for vengeance, an increasingly desperate Marin finally decides to have Bel killed, at that point less for his father’s memory than to alleviate his own humiliation and self-loathing. Reprise des hostilités abounds with deception and trickery, and Marin’s assassination plot is one of many such instances. Marin proposes a faked assassination as a political stunt to Bel, who is plunging in the polls. Bel takes the bait, but unknown to him, Marin instructs the killers to go through with the shooting. Ironically, just as Marin fears that his elaborate literary intrigue may somehow backfire and ultimately benefit Bel, the assassination plot is botched, and Marin takes a bullet to the chest while Bel survives and goes on to enjoy an ascendant political career23. Marin’s death in the final pages of the novel finally answers the question of how he ended up in Paradise, yet another narrative thread remains.

• 27 Perec lists the names of thirty authors in a “Post-scriptum” at the end of La Vie mode d’emploi. (...)
• 28 Xabi Molia, “Personal Letter”, 2007.

29Like Marin, who dreams of clandestinely composing a text from the assembled works of classic twentieth-century French writers, Molia smuggles quotations from twenty-six illustrious predecessors into his own novel. Molia’s postscript is in fact a double citation of sorts, for while it calls attention to all the authors whom it names, one writer in particular stands out from that list: Georges Perec27. Indeed, Molia notes, “Perec est, d’une certaine manière, omniprésent dans ce roman. Mais, dans une mise en abyme qui n’amuse sans doute que moi, j’avais choisi de citer… sa manière de citer ses emprunts à d’autres textes à la fin de La vie mode d’emploi”28.

• 29 Georges Perec, op. cit., p. 17.

30While contemplating the assemblage of the combinatorial masterpiece of plagiarism that he imagines destroying Bel’s career, Marin envisions that process as resembling the creation of a puzzle, a metaphor that finds suggestive echoes in Perec’s work. In the preamble to La vie mode d’emploi, Perec devotes several pages to that very notion, using “l’art du puzzle” as a metaphor to describe a highly articulative ludic relationship—characterized by “la ruse, le piège, l’illusion,”—between puzzle-maker and puzzle-solver, and by extension between writer and reader29. Marin imagines himself as a master puzzle-maker, constructing a hidden trap concealed within Bel’s autobiography. For Marin’s scenario to be realized fully, however, he needs a puzzle-solver to follow his tracks, thus he imagines the author B, an ideal reader capable of finding all the hidden clues and teasing out the deep structures—the “true” story—that lies beneath. B, Marin’s model reader, is a crucial figure in the text, his interpretive prowess in the cat-and-mouse game set up by Marin pointing toward the importance of careful, inquisitive reading in a situation where things are not what they seem.

• 32 Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou, Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Fals (...)

34True to its theme of illusory appearances, at first glance Reprise des hostilités appears almost free of intertextual references. Just beneath the surface, however, a quite different story emerges, for Molia’s novel can be read as a sustained attempt to come to terms with and to create something new from the literary heritage of the twentieth-century novel. The question of interpretation comes to the forefront as the reader navigates through the dense web of references to the real world and to the realm of literature. The duplicity, misdirection, and hidden plots that characterize Molia’s spy novel, filled with coded messages and keys to interpretation at every turn, offers a privileged position from which to consider our current political moment, which has arguably entered a “post-truth era” following a fragmentation of the traditional media landscape and an explosion of conspiratorial thinking32.

• 33 Christian Salmon, Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind, transl. David Macey, London, Verso, 2 (...)

35The pervasive menace of Bel’s reactionary rhetoric grounds the novel in contemporary French—and indeed, global—political discourse, exposing the false claims and hollow language of political opportunists. Christian Salmon analyzes the centrality of storytelling in modern politics, where “A candidacy’s success no longer depends upon the coherence of an economic program, the pertinence of the solutions that are on offer, or even a lucid vision of what is at stake […], but upon the ability to mobilize an audience and retain its loyalty”33. The rise of Donald Trump in the United States seems to have been anticipated by Bel’s media-savvy political machinations, and Bel’s claims of national decline and threats to national identity are being echoed across the United States and Europe today.