2024-02-14 14:38:44
For his second novel, the Franco-Swiss writer Florian Forestier focuses on the Matterhorn: a mythical and dreamed summit, but also the scene of numerous dramas and rivalries. Half-fiction, half-autobiography, “Un si beau bleu” combines the personal quest of a man and the very particular world of the mountain.
Florian has a dream: to climb the Matterhorn, the famous summit of the Alps which shook everything at home. So Florian trains hard, goes on mountain outings and hires an angry guide: Raffaele. Also accompanied by Morgane, a calmer and calmer aspiring guide, Florian will climb, fail and marvel at the beautiful blue of the peaks.
Quest for an anti-hero
Despite his good physical condition, Florian is not a self-confident mountaineer. The narrator cannot fix his crampons and his anxiety attacks endanger the Alpine excursions. Regular calls to his therapist, a strong relationship with his mother and inappropriate sexual thoughts bring additional relief to the main protagonist.
“Florian is a Woody Allen character, an even worse version of myself,” declared Florian Forestier with a smile in the 12:30 p.m. of February 7. “On the other hand, this clumsiness allows him to make several climbs, and above all to meet a whole gallery of colorful characters,” continues the writer.
The mountain in all its forms
At the crossroads between fiction and autobiography, “Un si beau bleu” does not just tell Florian’s personal quest. The novel also looks at the romantic potential of the summits. “The mountain is not just regarding going up and down. If we take the example of the Matterhorn, there is a whole story and different projections around it,” explains the author.
Reading “Un si beau bleu”, the reader climbed alongside the British Edward Whymper, during the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, shuddered at the falls and the arrival of the helicopters, while being indignant at the madness of the men. The delicate art of mixing the small and the big story is perfectly mastered here.
Comments collected by Manuela Salvi
Web adaptation: Sarah Clément
Florian Forestier, “Un si beau bleu”, Belfond, January 2024.
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