Arnaud Sagnard
Journaliste, Arnaud Sagnard est l’auteur de Bronson, paru en 2016 aux éditions Stock. La Filature est son deuxième roman....
BRONSON
Auteur
Parution :
24/08/2016
Collection :
La Bleue
BRONSON
Arnaud Sagnard
Arnaud Sagnard
“I shouldn’t have watched that old Charles Bronson film.
In a shabby hotel room, a man meticulously prepares an attack. The minutes drag by as, from inside the window, he watches the flat opposite that, come nightfall, he intends to blow up. This lasts a quarter of an hour, without a word of dialogue.
Since then, I have seen all of them, again and again: Once Upon a Time in the West, Death Wish, Machine-Gun Kelly… I went to Pennsylvania, where, as an adolescent during the Great Depression, he worked as a coal miner to provide for his family, and on to Hollywood, where, having become the highest-paid actor in the world, he ended up a recluse in a mansion.
At each stage of my quest, I came across the traces of the dead, not those from his screen adventures but of real corpses: belonging to members of his family, his friends, his entourage. The tough guy, the Indian with the stony smile was none other than a man haunted by fear. I reached thus far when, immersed in the archives of an American daily newspaper, I read the following sentence in the middle of an article: “If the dead could speak, they would have Charles Bronson’s voice.” It was at that point, I think, that our lives began to intertwine.”
A.S.
Arnaud Sagnard is a journalist. Editor in chief of the weekly French news magazine, L’Obs, he is the author of Vous êtes sur la liste? Enquête sur la tyrannie des branchés (Editions du Moment). Bronson is his first novel.
In a shabby hotel room, a man meticulously prepares an attack. The minutes drag by as, from inside the window, he watches the flat opposite that, come nightfall, he intends to blow up. This lasts a quarter of an hour, without a word of dialogue.
Since then, I have seen all of them, again and again: Once Upon a Time in the West, Death Wish, Machine-Gun Kelly… I went to Pennsylvania, where, as an adolescent during the Great Depression, he worked as a coal miner to provide for his family, and on to Hollywood, where, having become the highest-paid actor in the world, he ended up a recluse in a mansion.
At each stage of my quest, I came across the traces of the dead, not those from his screen adventures but of real corpses: belonging to members of his family, his friends, his entourage. The tough guy, the Indian with the stony smile was none other than a man haunted by fear. I reached thus far when, immersed in the archives of an American daily newspaper, I read the following sentence in the middle of an article: “If the dead could speak, they would have Charles Bronson’s voice.” It was at that point, I think, that our lives began to intertwine.”
A.S.
Arnaud Sagnard is a journalist. Editor in chief of the weekly French news magazine, L’Obs, he is the author of Vous êtes sur la liste? Enquête sur la tyrannie des branchés (Editions du Moment). Bronson is his first novel.
« Je n’aurais pas dû regarder cette vieille série B avec Charles Bronson.
À l’écran, un homme prépare un attentat dans une chambre d’hôtel minable. Longtemps, il observe par la fenêtre l’appartement qu’il fera sauter à la nuit tombée. Un quart d’heure passe sans qu’un mot soit prononcé.
Ce quart d’heure a occupé les dernières années de ma vie. Cinq ans à tenter de comprendre comment cet acteur “au sourire de pierre” pouvait produire un tel silence. Pourquoi ce film m’obsède-t-il autant ? Pourquoi creuser dans la carapace d’une vedette défunte ?
Un jour, j’ai lu cette phrase : Si les morts pouvaient parler, ils auraient sans doute la voix de Charles Bronson. Je commençais à comprendre : comme moi, il vivait entouré de cadavres et devait se couvrir les yeux pour dormir. Et comme chacun de nous, dès que l’écran s’éteint, l’enfant qu’il a cessé d’être a peur. »
À l’écran, un homme prépare un attentat dans une chambre d’hôtel minable. Longtemps, il observe par la fenêtre l’appartement qu’il fera sauter à la nuit tombée. Un quart d’heure passe sans qu’un mot soit prononcé.
Ce quart d’heure a occupé les dernières années de ma vie. Cinq ans à tenter de comprendre comment cet acteur “au sourire de pierre” pouvait produire un tel silence. Pourquoi ce film m’obsède-t-il autant ? Pourquoi creuser dans la carapace d’une vedette défunte ?
Un jour, j’ai lu cette phrase : Si les morts pouvaient parler, ils auraient sans doute la voix de Charles Bronson. Je commençais à comprendre : comme moi, il vivait entouré de cadavres et devait se couvrir les yeux pour dormir. Et comme chacun de nous, dès que l’écran s’éteint, l’enfant qu’il a cessé d’être a peur. »
272 pages
Format :
135 x 215 mm
EAN :
9782234081093
Prix :
21.50 €
