Lydie Salvayre's 'Passage à l'ennemie' Satirizes Security Politics

Lydie Salvayre's novel 'Passage à l'ennemie', published by Éditions du Seuil, uses satire to critique the French government's security-focused response to suburban unrest during the last presidential elections. The story is told through reports written by an intelligence agent infiltrated into a group of delinquents. Under the influence of hashish and love, the agent gradually switches sides. The novel's epigraph from Verlaine signals its reactive and polemical tone. Salvayre, known for her previous satirical work 'Les Belles Âmes' targeting tourism, here targets the political theme of insecurity. The narrative is delivered by an improbable vigilante disguised as a cross-dresser, a sort of Don Quixote of the intelligence services. The book is described as topsy-turvy, joyfully parodic, and explosively comedic.