It was the beginning of the Gulf War. I watched it on TV and did little else. I was doing badly, you see. Everything was going wrong. I just awaited the end. But then I met Victorien Salagnon, a veteran of the great colonial wars of Indochina, Vietnam and Algeria, a commander who had led his soldiers across the globe, a man with the blood of others up to his elbows. He said he would teach me to paint; he must have been the only painter in the French Forces, but out there no one cares about such things. I cared, though. In return, he wanted me to write his life story. And so he talked, and I wrote, and through him I witnessed the rivers of blood that cut channels through France, I saw the deaths that were as numberless as they were senseless and I began finally to understand the French art of war.

About the Author

Alexis Jenni is a French novelist and biology teacher. His debut novel, The French Art of War, won the 2011 Prix Goncourt. He lives in Lyon.

Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator and writer.

Reviews
A masterpiece -- Frederic Beigbeder * Le Figaro *
A masterpiece * Le Magazine litteraire *
Complex and profound... An adventure novel stuffed with people and stories * Le Monde *



Book Information
ISBN 9780857897534
Author Alexis Jenni
Format Paperback
Page Count 624
Imprint Atlantic Books
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 825g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 163mm * 45mm