French Novelists Delecroix and Polet Explore Polyphonic Narratives

Two new novels from Éditions Gallimard, Vincent Delecroix's 'La chaussure sur le toit' and Grégoire Polet's 'Leurs vies éclatantes', employ rare polyphonic structures in French literature. Delecroix's novel weaves multiple characters around a mysterious shoe on a rooftop, involving a father-daughter conversation about angels, a journalist interviewing Hemingway posthumously, and appearances by Ulysses and Neoptolemus seeking Philoctetes. Polet's work follows twenty characters over six days during two antagonistic events, including an ex-surgeon cracking nuts, a pianist, an art historian, and a cynical art dealer. Both authors explore themes of destiny, coincidence, and the passage of time.