#renaude

[detournementsmineurs]

William Lebghil dans "La Pièce Rapportée" d'Antonin Peretjatko - d'après les nouvelles "Il Faut un Héritier" de Noëlle Renaude (circa 1980) et "Le Roman d’une Contrebasse" d'Anton Tchekhov (1886) - décembre 2021.

[lunarellipsesreviews-blog]

Response to Charlotte Bondy's "Renaude"; "The Journey Prize" entry pages 29-36

"Renaude", third story of “The Journey Prize”, details a friendship started by something as simple as hair, and holds tighter than many marriages seem to. Three pages into the story and the friendship between Clara and Mischa reads very naturally, akin to how one tells their own history than a fictional one. It gives a lot of credence to the friendship the two share, such as how they would "waltz around . . . taking turns to lead" (page 30) or watch pornography together while high, despite much of it being told in retrospect rather than shown. It helps the story has a consistent voice, always in first person and past tense with an informal writing sense.

In a way, the story is closer to a blog than a formal piece, and yet it is devoid of acronyms that sidle into many pieces written by a casual online writer. Yet, despite this, events are placed in ways that seem insignificant yet tell about the characters without drawing undue attention. Watching "Fight Club for like the sixth time" (page 34) is given notice as not only a set-piece but also for how settled and comfortable Clara and Mischa are with one another as friends, defying the trend of a male and female friend having to be interested in one another.

Renaude’s own contribution to the story, oddly, feels like something of an after-thought when one considers she’s the titular character. Though she does have a focus in the later half of the story, events are still elaborated around Clara and Mischa and Renaude’s impact on them. Refreshingly, the story doesn’t trend down how many others would contrive in order to drive a wedge between firm if unlikely friends. The story starts sweetly, and ends sweetly.