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Abandoned by his wife and young daughter, without work or prospects and blind in one eye, the narrator of "Privy Portrait" moves into a minuscule apartment with his only inheritancea 25-volume encyclopedia, which becomes a cause of war between him and his vulgar, narrow-minded, racist and authoritarian neighbours, the Shritzkys. Because he has no space for the encyclopedia in his room, he stores it in the communal toilet. It is also the only place he can find refuge from his neighbours blaring television and barricades himself in it to read his encyclopedia, much to the distress of all the residents of the building. Amusing as it is devastating, " Privy Portrait" is the monologue of a man, disoriented by a gaping voidhis father never spoke to him of his originssuffering probably from cancer, recounting the final foundering of his own sanity and his life. In this buffoonish, even grotesque, yet profoundly pitiful man and through his voicea blend of disappointed idealism, dark humour and vulnerabilityJean-Luc Benoziglio explores weighty themes with slyness and a light touch without ever sacrificing their gravity: the roles of family, history and memory in one s interior life, one s moral responsibility towards others, the Holocaust observed from a position of safety and, above all, the fragility of personal identity."
About the author
Jean-Luc Benoziglio has written fourteen novels and won several prestigious literary awards including the Prix Médecis for
Privy Portrait.
Summary
The author's wife and young daughter have abandoned him, he has no work or prospects, he's blind in one eye, and he must move into a horribly tiny apartment with his only possession: a twenty-five-volume encyclopedia. This book explores themes such as the roles of family, history, and one's moral responsibility toward others.
