The Little Girl and The Cigarette - Softcover

Benoit Duteurtre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933633123 ISBN 13: 9781933633121

Publisher: Melville House, 2007

Synopsis

"Not only are we no longer capable of seeing the tragedies that have befallen us, we are incapable even of registering our own incapacity to do so . . . [but] Duteurtre sees, and records all that he sees."-Milan Kundera

"A joy to read, as much as it is alarming."-Le Monde

In the over-legislated world of this outrageous comedy, a death row inmate becomes a darling of the media-and the tobacco conglomerates-after he demands his right to a final cigarette in a smoke-free prison.

Meanwhile, a little girl accuses a petty municipal bureaucrat of sexual perversion when she catches him sneaking a cigarette. Incredulously, he realizes that in this world where children are not just kings, but tyrants, a cigarette could lead him to the electric chair.

At the cutting edge of European fiction, young, hip French author Benoît Duteurtre creates a world disconcertingly close to our own-yet wildly askew-in this daring and antic comedy.

About this title

About the Author

Winner of the prestigious Prix Medici award, and author of 11 novels translated in 13 languages, Duteurtre has been acclaimed by Milan Kundera for his edgy, incisive humor, and called "a cultural bomb thrower" for his satiric take on modern life.

Review

"What I admire most about The Little Girl and the Cigarette: the clarity with which this novel unmasks the fundamental stupidity of our modern world; the black humor that transforms horror into a fascinating danse macabre."
—Milan Kundera

"Duteurtre is a cultural bomb thrower."
—International Herald Tribune

"The novel goes down swinging—it gets its excited jabs in at everything from the nanny state to the way that children rule the adult world like tiny tyrants."
—Paul Constant, The Stranger

"A fascinating...fable of the terrifying power of public opinion."
—Bookslut

"Duteurtre suggests that our obsession with children is pure narcissism—we outlaw our freedoms not because we love children but because we want to be them. And when we rebel, we do it because we long for the reassurance that having boundaries gives. It is maddening to watch this bureaucrat refuse to acknowledge his own childish behavior—like puffing secretly upstairs in a relative's nonsmoking home—as he rails against everyone else. On one hand, you empathize with his fight for personal liberties. On the other, you wish he'd just grow up and behave. Ultimately, he comes off as whiny, self-absorbed and unsympathetic. But this is precisely the point: We can see him no other way."
—Karrie Higgins, The Los Angeles Times

"As an unfiltered hit of misanthropy, the book goes down strong and bitter, leaving behind a craving for more."
—David Ng, The Village Voice

"Both funny and unsettling."
—Chicago Reader

"A joy to read, as much as it is alarming."
—Le Monde

About this edition

• Publisher: Melville House
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1933633123
• ISBN 13: 9781933633121
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 187