Books & the Arts / Claire Messud’s Remarkable Experiment in Historical Fiction Chronicling a pied-noir family across generations and continents, she examines the moral and political responsibilities a novelist owes their kin and their readers. It begins: “Although this novel was inspired by the author’s family history, this is a work of fiction and the usual rules apply. In This Strange Eventful History, Messud seems especially aware of the conventional nature of her work—and especially willing to manipulate it. (Messud’s grandfather, Gaston Messud, did the same.) But unlike Gaston, Chloe does not want to protect the pied-noir legacy.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 22, 2024 09:13 UTC