Alain Damasio

I've been meaning to read Alain Damasio's works for several years, but never came around to doing so. Work and other obligations always intervened. Furthermore, it is said that Mr Damasio hasn't the most accessible style. However, I have watched several videos in which he was interviewed or present at a conference.

A few years ago, I did manage to read the short story 'Les Hauts Parleurs' (see my review here), which is also the first story in this collection 'Aucun souvenir assez solide', also the title of one of the other stories here.

Somehow, short stories offer a better gateway into an author's universe than novels. And so, this collection could be ideal to get acquainted with Mr Damasio's style and themes, which revolve around technology (and the abuses), politics, sociology, philosophy, ... also to be found in his novels, of course. One word I do link with him and his view on ICT: technococon, i.e. being trapped in a bubble that offers safety, comfort, ... but in return, we sacrifice our mental health, our privacy, our connection with nature, ... And if we try to get out or escape, new ways are found to keep us in.

What started well - even if not every story was to my liking - soon dropped off a cliff quite rapidly. Alain Damasio is more a philosophical writer than an author of science fiction, even though his stories do touch the realm of sci-fi.

His style is indeed, as mentioned in other reviews, very poetic, therefore also not always as accessible as desired; one must have a thorough understanding/knowledge of the French language, in my opinion. This results in stories not (fully) or wrongly understood. Thankfully, the afterword explained in clearer terms what each story was about and how to approach Damasio's writing. And then you feel dumb for not having grasped the essence of said stories.

Here are at least three reviews that clarify the themes (and the "problems") with these stories better:

Lucille
Julien
Calimport

Stories I liked:
Les Hauts Parleurs
Le bruit des bagues
C@PTCH@
So phare away
El Levir et le Livre
Postface de Systar: Portrait de Damasio en aérophone

Stories I liked less or didn't comprehend:
Anna à travers la Harpe
Les Hybres
Sam va mieux
Une stupéfiante salve d'escarbilles de houille écarlate
Aucun souvenir assez solide

Maybe I should have started with, for example, 'La Zone du Dehors'. I'll read it some day. Hopefully, I'll have better luck then at understanding and getting into Mr Damasio's way with words.

So, yes, while you can read these short stories without having read any of the man's novels, it's probably and most likely best to start with the novels. As Alain Damasio isn't the most prolific author, you have ample time to discover and dive into his universe.… (more)

This short-story is the first in the anthology [b:Aucun souvenir assez solide|26176192|Aucun souvenir assez solide|Alain Damasio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440695245s/26176192.jpg|23631003], but can also be downloaded for free. See lower in this review.

What's it about? About the privatisation of language. Most of the words (of the French language, in this case) have been registered. If you want to use them, you have to pay a licence fee. Wor[l]d Corporation has made it their core-business: using (registered) language is allowed, but you have to pay for it. And woe onto you if you use the language illegally.

This also results in people having a more limited vocabulary, yet do everything in their power (to such extremes as prostitution among students) to re-obtain certain words or acquire possession of such words.

As with almost every dystopian story, there are rebels who want to break this monopoly and keep language free to use. They live in a separate zone, Zone 17, in towers which are accessed via flying bicycles (delta-planes) and bridges. The brightest of these rebels is a certain Spassky (no, not the chess master), who makes his language revolve around the word 'chat'. With a lot of creativity, you might think we're dealing with ch'ti, the language of the Picard region (north of France).

In short: Language and the use of it should never be copyrighted or licenced or anything of the sort. Language is more than words, and not every language has a word for something that exists in another language (see, for example, [b:Is That a Fish in Your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation|16001554|Is That a Fish in Your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation|David Bellos|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347291100s/16001554.jpg|16364404]). Language is also subject to change and evolution, not always for the better, but still... Many words have also acquired a new meaning or undergone a new spelling over the years and centuries. Dictionaries come and go and with each new edition, there are several words that don't make the it. Little by little, these disappear from daily or regular use, in favour of other words. But it doesn't mean that they can not be used any more.

Alain Damasio demonstrates his love for language, as he uses neologisms, new compositions, a different writing of several words (in which case you deal with, for example, homonyms, words that sound the same, but mean something else and are written differently), all in such a lush way that makes this short-story a must-read for anyone with an interest in language and linguistics.

Similar stories, or stories in which language is also endangered, are [b:Vox|37796866|Vox|Christina Dalcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1521051148s/37796866.jpg|59461956] (to link one version) by [a:Christina Dalcher|17319381|Christina Dalcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1521246846p2/17319381.jpg], or [b:Nineteen Eighty-Four|185900|Nineteen Eighty-Four|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525186948s/185900.jpg|153313] by [a:George Orwell|3706|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450573063p2/3706.jpg].

One review goes more into detail of this story, in which "impoverishment of language" is central: Saint-Epondyle.net.

You can download this short-story for free from HERE (direct link). If you would like an audio-version, go to YouTube.com (direct link).

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This is my first Damasio-story and I'm curious to read his other works:

* [b:La Zone du Dehors|26014749|La Zone du Dehors|Alain Damasio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456720008s/26014749.jpg|3435218] ('Les Haut Parleurs' is said to be related to this novel)
* [b:Le Dehors de toute chose|33635715|Le Dehors de toute chose|Alain Damasio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1483054248s/33635715.jpg|54482706]
* [b:La Horde du Contrevent|25135826|La Horde du Contrevent|Alain Damasio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426270464s/25135826.jpg|1387917]
* [b:Aucun souvenir assez solide|26176192|Aucun souvenir assez solide|Alain Damasio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440695245s/26176192.jpg|23631003]
* [b:Les Furtifs|44653929|Les Furtifs|Alain Damasio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1553853335s/44653929.jpg|69293709] (his newest offering, just released)… (more)