The Writing Workshop
Publisher
:
Dilettante
Parution date
:
2009
EAN
:
9782842631659
Number of pages
:
252
Description
Side-splitting, biting and simply riveting . . .
—evene.fr
. . . an anti–Entre les murs (The Class): Chefdeville charges whereas Bégaudeau chats.
—Ouest France
Verlan, the argot common among French young people that is used with general slang and is accompanied by constant and inventive swearing, is the language and the spirit of The Writing Workshop, a hilarious—and horrifying—look at a creative writing teacher’s experience in the toughest recesses of the French school system.
Chefdeville is the main character in a novel by an author of the same name. Fifteen years earlier, he published his first and only book, a detective novel. Since its publication, he has been unable to write, passing his time swatting flies and staring at blank paper. Then the phone rings . . . would he be willing to teach a writing workshop at the Lycée Jean-Moulin, an inner-city high school? He would. He arrives at the job and stares into what is referred to as the “aquarium,” a glass-walled classroom of students—his students—sitting at desks in a U formation. He can get the students to spell out their names on a piece of paper, fold the paper, and give it to him, but he gets no more from them. He spends most of the class time dodging insults and biting his tongue, yet somehow, his “work” is thought to be good. He receives more and more offers to teach: a screenplay workshop at the Lycée Marcel Aymé, a writer’s residence in an agricultural school, and an engagement to help the students of the Collège Pablo Néruda write a puppet show. He has become a specialist, he believes, in conducting writing workshops in schools awaiting demolition. On a normal day, his classes are simply out of control. And then a student broadcasts the news that Chefdeville is sleeping with his—the student’s—mother. Just when there seems no way out of the resulting hell, Chefdeville receives a contract to write a book that is based on his experience as a writing workshop teacher. Both Chefdeville and his readers are lucky that he did.
Author
Chefdeville : Chefdeville is the author of one previous novel. He has a Web site at http://chefdeville.monsite.orange.fr.
|