Patrick Roegiers' 'Le Cousin de Fragonard' Concludes Trilogy

Patrick Roegiers, a visual and synesthetic writer known for essays on Lewis Carroll, Doisneau, and Diane Arbus, as well as numerous novels, has published 'Le Cousin de Fragonard' (Éditions du Seuil), the concluding volume of a trilogy. The novel centers on Honoré Fragonard, cousin of the famous painter, who trained in anatomy at the veterinary school of Maisons-Alfort. Roegiers uses Fragonard's dissections—amputating, slicing, and skinning cadavers from hospices and morgues—as a metaphor for the writer's role: to confront disease, death, and historical convulsions with a scalpel-like writing style. The book rejects the dichotomy between lyricism and formalism, offering a clinical yet jubilant narrative that provides solace to those who suffer in silence. Roegiers' first fiction, 'Beau regard' (1990), already displayed a precise radiography of human behavior, and this work deepens his art of inquiry and dissection.