(Joshua Barone’s article appeared in The New York Times, 11/6; via Pam Green.)
The French wunderkind’s books have quickly become magnets for the stage. Adaptations of “History of Violence” and “The End of Eddy” will play New York simultaneously.
Édouard Louis was relieved to be talking about something else.
Journalists will often ask about politics, since Louis — a wunderkind of French literature who at 27 has already risen to the status of public intellectual — is seen as a firebrand of the left and a voice for the Yellow Vests movement. Or they’ll want to know about his life, which he has documented with fierce and unflinching honesty in three novels about sexuality, class and cruelty.
“People are always more interested in the biographical stuff,” he said, adding with a laugh, “but I’m constantly writing about my life!”
Hence his happiness at a change of subject. This conversation, with yet another journalist, would be focused on theater: one of his first and most enduring loves, even the wellspring of his creative life.
Photo: Benjamin Malapris for The New York Times
