The Man Who Walked Through Walls by Marcel Aymé
As you might have guessed from my reviews here, I’m something of a fan of Pushkin Press’s very beautiful books. So I couldn’t let my first visit to the sparkly new Foyles in Charing Cross Road go by without picking up one of their volumes, and this was it. I knew nothing about Aymé, but I liked the sound of the stories so there you go! And having had a look online Wikipedia tells me: Marcel Aymé (March 29, 1902 – October 14, 1967) was a French novelist, children’s writer, humour writer and also a screenwriter and theatre playwright. The title story of this volume seems to have been his best known work and is immortalised by a sculpture in Paris.
The book contains ten stories, often very different, but many distinguished by the time when they were written. Published in 1943, the works are informed by the ongoing presence of war and occupation by Germany. Several cover war and its effects, and it’s worth bearing in mind that these were written at a point when it was not possible to know how things would turn out (for example, one story mentions the 1939-1972 War, which emphasises how it must have felt to be in the centre of these events with no sign of hope).
However, on to specifics. The title story is a clever, funny piece of work about an unassuming clerk, Dutillieul, who discovers that he can literally walk through walls. All goes well and he has no need to use this skill until bureaucracy gets in the way and threatens his life and his status quo. Dutillieul rebels, and has a brief time of glory – but alas, rather over-reaches himself! Strange powers are also featured in “Sabine Women”, in which the woman of the title discovers she has ubiquity and can split herself into as many duplicate women as she wants. This becomes useful when she wants loves, but becomes more sinister as they populate the world, and ends up musing in somewhat satirical fashion on the soul. Then there are a couple of strange time-shifting tales dealing with less useful members of society only being allowed to stay alive for part of the month, or a switch to summertime taking time travel to the furthest extent. There are sadder stories, too, about poverty, madness and cruelty.
As Nicholas Lezard, reviewing in the Guardian, pointed out about the stories: Many were written in occupied France and conjure, obliquely, with the absurd horrors of wartime. Obliquely is correct here, as the stories are not really escapist, but look at things in a slightly skewed way as a method of coping and trying to make sense of the situation. Lezard, a huge fan, compares Aymé to Kafka and Will Self, but I was more reminded of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, his strangeness, the surreality of his settings and the manipulation of space and time in his stories.
This was a fascinating and thought-provoking read, full of unexpected twists, emotions and humour. Once again, I’m going to have to throw bouquets at Pushkin Press for bringing us this book – they’re turning out to be awfully reliable publishers!
winstonsdad
Aug 24, 2014 @ 06:11:12
Perfect choice to buy from the new foyles that is down for my next trip to london to visit
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 10:07:27
You’ll love the Foyles – I could spend a whole day in there!
jacquiwine
Aug 24, 2014 @ 07:53:51
I’ve had my eye on this collection ever since I read Nicholas Lezard’s review a year or so ago. Another interesting discovery by Pushkin Press.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 10:08:08
It is – and unexpectedly good – not all just light tales but some very deep subtexts. I always seem to be able to rely on Pushkin Press!
heavenali
Aug 24, 2014 @ 13:24:12
This does sound like a fascinating collection, I really should get investigating these Pushkin Press titles.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 14:02:08
There are some lovely books, and they’re not all Russian! 😉
Annabel (gaskella)
Aug 24, 2014 @ 13:34:21
I bought a Pushkin Press volume (Pushkin – Queen of Spades) in Foyles last week too – they sort of jump out at you. Nearly bought the Teffi one also, but resisted.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 14:02:29
It’s hard to pass a table of them on display without picking up at least one, I find!
Alex
Aug 24, 2014 @ 16:11:46
Next time I can get down to London I am going to do nothing else but spend the day in Foyles. I haven’t yet negotiated this with my bank manager but he is just going to have to deal with it.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 16:35:27
:))) I think that’s such a good plan – you need one of those plastic Flexible Friends!
Alex
Aug 24, 2014 @ 16:45:49
What a superb idea! Thank you.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 16:47:00
:))))
Fleur in her World
Aug 24, 2014 @ 21:07:17
This sounds wonderful, and my library had it so I’ll definitely be placing an order.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 24, 2014 @ 21:24:07
Aren’t libraries wonderful things? 🙂
Kat
Aug 25, 2014 @ 20:31:13
I love the idea of the Sabine Women story!
And I wish to God I lived in London so I could go to Foyles. As I recall, they had a huge Pushkin Press display. But probably best that I don’t live in London, because, heavens, I couldn’t afford it! I do have a Pushkin Press book here from London (probably Foyles: where did I put it?).
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 25, 2014 @ 20:56:58
Foyles is beautiful and Pushkin Press books are irresistible – so it’s probably a good thing I don’t go too often….. 🙂
Jenny @ Reading the End
Aug 25, 2014 @ 21:11:40
That’s a gorgeous cover. I’ll have to see if they published this in the US, or if not, if my library can get hold of it anyway through interlibrary loan. It sounds wonderfully weird.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 25, 2014 @ 21:33:35
It *is* great fun – hope you can get hold of it!
Max Cairnduff
Oct 14, 2015 @ 17:32:10
Nicely brought out resonances there, the way the war is referred to obliquely. I have this and am looking forward to it, all the more so after your review.
Pushkin do make beautiful books. I have this one on kindle which is a bit of a waste really…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 14, 2015 @ 18:26:45
Pushkin books are lovely objects, which is why I would *always* want the hard copy rather than the digital! Hope you enjoy this.
20 Books of Summer #5-6 – Aymé and Larkin – Annabookbel
Jul 18, 2020 @ 15:52:50
Denise
Jul 31, 2020 @ 22:14:54
This was a good collection! It was good to find out about the context of the war, such as the reference to the war of 1939-72. My favourite was the title story because it was told in such a jocular manner to begin with and it was so sad at the end, but the author was playing with your sympathies all the time. Also the poor boy whose dad did his homework for him, that was a many layered tale. I didn’t quite understand the ending of the one about the boots, although it was very poignant in its description of how more privileged people treat others.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 01, 2020 @ 10:37:17
It was! I loved it, and I did enjoy all the little twists and turns of his storytelling. Another author I really enjoyed but have never gone on to read any more – I hope there’s more of his writing in translation!