P.N.A Handschin's 'Déserts': A Text Infected by Name Saturation

Laurent Goumarre reviews P.N.A Handschin's book 'Déserts', describing it as a symptomatic text infected by a nosocomial literary disease. The book is structured in three parts—'Résolutions', 'Cluster', and 'Torsions'—each escalating a logic of proliferation. In 'Résolutions', a hypomanic 'I' juxtaposes eclectic life projects. 'Cluster' satirizes name-dropping by filling the 'I' with identities, collapsing subjects with missing commas. 'Torsions' creates a head-to-tail movement akin to exquisite corpse or word chain, linking figures like Raymond Barre, Mathilde Seigner, and the Pet Shop Boys. Goumarre compares the effect to squeezing the juice from Bret Easton Ellis, Patrick Modiano, and Régis Jauffret, leaving the reader disoriented and 'deserted'.