- Orsenna, Erik.
Les Chevaliers du Subjonctif.
Paris: Stock, 2004.
ISBN 2-234-05698-5.
-
Two years have passed since Jeanne and her brother Thomas were marooned
on the enchanted island of words in
La grammaire est une chanson douce
(January 2005). In this sequel, Jeanne
takes to the air in a glider with a diminutive cartographer to map
the Archipelago of Conjugation and search for her brother who has
vanished. Jeanne's luck with voyages hasn't changed—the glider
crashes on the Island of the Subjunctives, where Jeanne encounters
its strange inhabitants, guardians of the verbs which speak of what
may be, or may not—the mode of dreams and love (for what is love if
not hope and doubt?), the domain of the subjunctive. To employ a
subjunctive survival from old French, oft-spoken but rarely thought of as
such, « Vive le
subjonctif ! ».
The author has been a member of the French
Conseil d'État
since 1985, has written more than a dozen works of fiction
and nonfiction, is an accomplished sailor and president
of the Centre de la mer,
and was elected to
l'Académie française
in 1998. For additional information, visit his
beautiful and creatively designed
Web site,
where you will find a map of the Archipelago of Conjugation
and the first chapter of the book in both text and
audio editions.
Can you spot the perspective error made by the artist on the front
cover? (Hint: the same goof occurs in the opening title sequence of
Star Trek: Voyager.)
April 2005 