Jacques Henric on Bernard Comment's 'Tout passe': Short Stories of Uprooted Lives

In a review published by artpress, Jacques Henric examines Bernard Comment's short story collection 'Tout passe' (Christian Bourgois éditeur). Henric argues that the short story is a difficult literary form, often avoided by publishers for being uncommercial and by writers for its unforgiving structure. He praises Comment's somber and melancholic tone, noting that his characters are not monsters but ordinary humans lacking the music to make life dance. The stories feature recurring motifs: notaries, dissolving families, deaths, inheritances, lost children, and a sense of devastation. Yet, despite the darkness, Henric finds an atmosphere of serenity reminiscent of Chekhov. He highlights specific tales: 'Hors jeu' about a Portuguese football coach who sees the pitch as a cage and misses his piano; 'Fugue' about a woman remembering a broken record player; and 'L'Annonce' about a prisoner dying of illness while recalling his murdered wife's beauty. Henric concludes that Comment's art captures fleeting moments of freedom, like sparrows bought in Lahore to be released only to be recaptured.