A Man With No Title
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Mohand-Said Ait-Taleb is an enigma. Living in France but ravaged by memories of the war in Algeria, he has withdrawn into his own world, away from his wife and children. When his son Xavier discovers articles by Albert Camus describing the appalling conditions his father grew up in, he starts to piece together the story of his life.
Xavier retraces the steps of this dignified, illiterate and strong-willed man: from Kabylia - where starving children, like Mohand-Said, fought with dogs for scraps - to the metal factory in Normandy, where his father would spend the rest of his days, consumed with providing for his family. It is there that Xavier discovers his love of books. When he breaks with conservative family traditions and confesses his attraction to men, Xavier will find which doors slam closed and which will open.
A Man With No Title is a beautiful and moving tribute to a father, to the immigrants condemned to undertake the hardest work for meagre reward, and to the power of literature to transcend class.
About this Author
Xavier Le Clerc is a celebrated French Algerian novelist and poet. His third novel Un homme sans titre received wide critical acclaim in France, where it was awarded four literary prizes, including the prestigious Prix du Livre La Tribune. Born Hamid Aït-Taleb in Kabylia, Algeria, Le Clerc changed his name in his early thirties due to discrimination. He now lives with his husband between Paris and London.
Reviews
'A beautiful and achingly tender tribute to a father' Leïla Slimani
'A beautifully rendered, deeply felt tribute. Le Clerc achieves reconciliation, love and respect for his long-suffering father.' Raja Shehadeh
'Thank you for your story which does justice to your father, to his lifelong journey marked by violence, colonisation, war and work.' Annie Ernaux
'A magnificent book by Xavier Le Clerc, the courage of his man without a title, Albert Camus, Kabylia, the war in Algeria, industrial France, the life of immigrants, integration.' Anne Hidalgo
'We have fallen for this novel, which questions exile, identity, class struggle. It's a beautiful novel, sensitive, magnificently written. It has shaken us to our core.' France Inter
'Here literature is not a settling of accounts, nor a torrent of tears, it is a march forward towards understanding one's history and oneself.' Le Figaro Littéraire
'A poignant story, a tribute to a father who transmitted to him a saving rage.' L'Obs
'A Man With No Title is a powerful account of a marginalised community. As well as a poignant hymn to his father - "born dispossessed, without a title to land or French citizenship papers" - Le Clerc also pays tribute to France and the redemption it offered him through education. In finding his father, he discovers something of himself and the resilience they share.' The Observer
'A loving tribute both to a father and to the author's joy in language, and the only failing is that there isn't more of it.' The Guardian
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