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Le dieu du carnage

Yasmina REZA

128 pages

Published by Albin Michel in 2007

(English translation by Christopher Hampton published by Faber & Faber in 2007)

This book counts for the following Reading Challenges:

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

First let me tell how much I enjoy my French online teaching! I use skype, which allows me to have students form all over the world.
I particularly enjoy the advanced to nearly fluent students: apart from the necessaru grammatical exercises, we either watch French videos together and talk on them, or share about the latest movies we saw or books we read.

One day, R. shared with me her passion for French plays, and even sent me an efile of the latest she had read. So I read it as well, and then we spent a few classes looking at the interesting colloquial vocabulary and studying the charcater development of this short play. It really made it more interesting than if I had just read it by myself.

A kid has just hit another one at achool. We are here in the presence of the 2 sets of parents who want to reach some kind of peaceful agreement about the whole thing. It starts in a very polite and courteous manner, with typical rich French people, superficial, or stuck in their business.
Then, little by little, things fall apart: one gets drunk, and then politeness disappear to give place to rudeness, even meanness and violence, with lots of street vocabulary, perfect if you intend to improve your modern French!

I kind of enjoyed this social satire, it sounded very French to me.

Actually a movie has been made put of it and is available. I’m looking forward to watch it.

WHAT IS IS ABOUT

What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach kids how to behave properly? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums, and tears before bedtime?
Christopher Hampton’s translation of Yasmina Reza’s sharp-edged new play The God of Carnage premiered at Wyndham’s Theatre, London, in March 2008 and at Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, New York City, in March 2009. The International Herald Tribune calls it “an expert piece of stagecraft, and savagely funny.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yasmina Reza began work as an actress, appearing in several new plays as well as in plays by Molière and Marivaux. In 1987 she wrote Conversations after a Burial, which won the Molière Award for Best Author. Following this, she translated Kafka’s Metamorphosis for Roman Polanski and was nominated for a Molière Award for Best Translation. Her second play, Winter Crossing, won the 1990 Molière for Best Fringe Production, and her next play The Unexpected Man, enjoyed successful productions in England, France, Scandinavia, Germany and New York. In 1995, Art premiered in Paris and went on to win the Molière Award for Best Author. Since then it has been produced world-wide and translated into 20 languages. The London production received the 1996-97 Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award. Screenwriting credits include See You Tomorrow, starring Jeanne Moreau and directed by Didier Martiny. In September 1997, her first novel, Hammerklavier, was published.