Jean-Claude Grumberg's Homage to a Lost Father

Jean-Claude Grumberg's 'Inventaire suivi de Une leçon de savoir-vivre' (Éditions du Seuil) is a collection of texts honoring his deceased father. The book blends autobiographical elements with theatrical style, reminiscent of his earlier work 'Rêver peut-être', which featured a Hamlet-like son grappling with guilt. Grumberg employs a fragmented, digressive narrative—a 'Harlequin's costume' of disparate parts—to explore themes of mourning, bureaucracy, memory, and psychoanalysis. The work moves from a critique of postwar administrative indifference ('Paperasserie') to nostalgic ('Noue, été 47'), tragicomic ('Le double piston'), and meditative ('L'or juif') passages. A notable final section, a 'conference' collaging vile texts on 'How to Recognize a Jew', responds to the author's disgust with the cult of Céline. The review by Valérie Malfoy in artpress highlights Grumberg's ability to shift registers naturally, seeking laughter even when it sticks in the throat.