Jacques Henric on Justine Lévy and Guy Walter: Chronicling Small Events with Great Intensity

In an article for art press n°362 (December 2009), Jacques Henric reviews two autobiographical books: Justine Lévy's "Mauvaise Fille" (Éditions Stock) and Guy Walter's "Un jour en moins" (Éditions Verdier). Henric contrasts these works with novels that tackle grand historical themes but fail to convey inner experience. He praises Lévy for focusing on the small events of her life—her mother's death from cancer and drug addiction, and the birth of her daughter Angèle—with a seismographic writing style that captures both minor tremors and deep shocks. Lévy, daughter of famous father Bernard-Henri Lévy, avoids metaphysics and instead records her experience with humor and refusal of guilt, describing her mother as "a sublime woman" who was a model for the world's greatest photographers. Henric also discusses Guy Walter's "Un jour en moins," which explores the father-son bond and the narrator's childhood discovery of the word "juif" (Jew) in relation to his father, linking personal and historical memory. Henric cites Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben, and Georges Didi-Huberman to frame the literary value of attending to small events.