Upstaged (French Literature Series) - Softcover

In less than twenty years, Jacques Jouet has quietly elaborated one of the most astonishing bodies of work in French literature today. . . . In short, Jouet is an experimentalist in the best sense of that word, a writer whose work comes to us fresh, each book a new book, all of them clearly the product of a literary imagination animated by a keen, ludic intelligence.

From the perspective of American readers, Jacques Jouet s writing is one of contemporary French literature s best-kept secrets. That s because until very recently none of his books had found their way into English translation and the fault is ours rather than his, because Jouet himself has been producing smart, funny, vibrant, pungent literature in astonishing diversity and abundance for the last quarter century. --Warren Motte, author of Fables of the Novel: French Fiction Since 1990

Two minutes into the second act, there is a knock on Nicolas Boehlmer’s dressing-room door, just as he’s smoking his last cigarette before having to go back on stage . . . and, without thinking, he says,“Come in,” still in character. He quickly finds himself bound, gagged, and stripped by a man who appears to be his mirror image: costumed in the same wig, make-up, and clothes. Nicolas is powerless to prevent his usurper from going out and playing his role—with increasingly ridiculous consequences. Is this “upstaging” the act of a depraved amateur? Sabotage by a rival? A piece of guerrilla theater? A political statement? Whatever the cause, Nicolas and his fellow actors soon find their play—and their lives—making less and less sense, as the parts they play come under assault by this irrational intruder.