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Ruines-de-Rome
Un employé du cadastre met sa misanthropie au service des plus noires prophéties. Feignant de cultiver son lopin de terre, ce paysan amateur et saboteur couvre la ville de fleurs et d'arbrisseaux, s'arme de patience, d'herbes folles pour laisser libre cours au chiendent de sa rêverie. Nul ne devine ce travail qui sape les murs, soulève le goudron, renvoie la civilisation à ses friches premières...
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2002
9 people want to read
About the author
Pierre Senges
36 books24 followersPierre Senges (born 1968, Romans-sur-Isère) is a French writer. His work includes fifteen books, often collaborations with illustrators, and over twenty-five plays for radio.
His books are sometimes noted for having a baroque style. They frequently combine erudition and invention Fragments of Lichtenberg or play with the relation between the true and untrue Veuves au maquillage and La réfutation majeure.
Senges' radio plays (fictions radiophoniques) have been produced by France Culture and France Inter. His many prizes include the Prix Wepler, the Prix SACD Nouveau Talent Radio in 2007, the Grand prix de la fiction radiophonique de la SGDL in 2008, the Prix du deuxième roman, the Prix Rhône-Alpes, and the Prix meilleure page 111.
His books are sometimes noted for having a baroque style. They frequently combine erudition and invention Fragments of Lichtenberg or play with the relation between the true and untrue Veuves au maquillage and La réfutation majeure.
Senges' radio plays (fictions radiophoniques) have been produced by France Culture and France Inter. His many prizes include the Prix Wepler, the Prix SACD Nouveau Talent Radio in 2007, the Grand prix de la fiction radiophonique de la SGDL in 2008, the Prix du deuxième roman, the Prix Rhône-Alpes, and the Prix meilleure page 111.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 28, 2018
A reclusive, misanthropic employee in land registration is faced with an even lonelier oncoming retirement. In order to spice things up, he decides to foment a herbal Apocalypse: by planting seeds of a huge variety of species into every crack in every wall, in every garden, balcony, cemetery, park and wasteland, he hopes to destroy his urban environment and breed a new world ruled by plants.
The novel's structure is one of its most dazzling aspects: each short segment (about a page) is named after plant, and the name of the plant reflects the theme of the chapter. The same goes for the title of the book: Ruines-de-Rome, a French common name for Cymbalaria muralis (which has many English names, most notably "mother of thousands", which could be an appropriate if imperfect translation), reflecting the idea that the narrator is going after civilization itself. The plant itself gets its name from growing on and through old walls, causing them to slowly crumble.
Senges' writing, as I never cease to say, is extraordinary. Every sentence is beautifully crafted, the tone is erudite, witty, sometimes melancholic, often cynical. And the depiction of the protagonists nightly activies is so meticulously rendered you start to wonder whether Senges didn't try out some of these techniques himself. It's one of those books where you fold the corner of the page to mark a favourite passage and then you realise you're doing it to basically every page.
The novel's structure is one of its most dazzling aspects: each short segment (about a page) is named after plant, and the name of the plant reflects the theme of the chapter. The same goes for the title of the book: Ruines-de-Rome, a French common name for Cymbalaria muralis (which has many English names, most notably "mother of thousands", which could be an appropriate if imperfect translation), reflecting the idea that the narrator is going after civilization itself. The plant itself gets its name from growing on and through old walls, causing them to slowly crumble.
Senges' writing, as I never cease to say, is extraordinary. Every sentence is beautifully crafted, the tone is erudite, witty, sometimes melancholic, often cynical. And the depiction of the protagonists nightly activies is so meticulously rendered you start to wonder whether Senges didn't try out some of these techniques himself. It's one of those books where you fold the corner of the page to mark a favourite passage and then you realise you're doing it to basically every page.
Displaying 1 of 1 review