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Noc ognia - Night of Fire - Poland

 

I was born twice, once in Lyon in 1960 and once in the Sahara in 1989.

One night can change a whole life.

 

In 1989 when he was twenty-eight, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt went trekking in the Sahara. He left, an atheist; ten days later, he returned, a believer.

 

In the unfamiliar territory of southern Algeria, he got to know the Tuareg people and discovered a life reduced to simplicity. Then, one day, he got lost for 30 hours in the vast wastes of the Ahaggar Desert. With nothing to eat or drink and no knowledge of where he was or whether anyone would find him, alone under the African sky where the stars appeared so close, he expected to be beside himself with fear; in fact, he found himself filled with a powerful force that comforted, enlightened and advised him.

 

That “night of fire”, as Pascal called his dramatic encounter with God, changed Schmitt forever. What happened? What did he hear? How do you deal with such an abrupt and unexpected experience when you are a philosopher trained in the agnostic tradition?

In this book, in which a vast inner journey runs parallel to the plot, Eric-Emmanuel reveals his private spiritual and emotional life for the first time and describes how that miraculous moment affected, not just his career as a writer, but his trajectory as a man.

The carousel of desire

 

Celebrated short-story writer, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's (The Most Beautiful Book in the World) first full-length novel to appear in English is a literary tour de force, a magnificent cathedral of contemporary eroticism.

The Carousel of Desire is a sexual and romantic saga told with a master storyteller's feel for character and plot and a philosopher's abiding preoccupation with what makes life truly worthwhile. With tenderness and infectious delight, Schmitt tells an exuberant tale about class and community and about the vastness of human experience. Schmitt's love of coincidence and serendipity is surpassed only by his affection for his flawed, all-too-human characters: Zachary Bidermann, the powerful European Union commissioner; Faustina, the fashionable book publicist; François-Maxime de Couvigne, the happily married banker with more than a few secrets; Marcelle, enamored with a handsome illegal immigrant; Miss Beauvert, who makes love with her parrot, Copernicus. These and many more unforgettable characters animate this story of simmering desire and the antics of the mischievous and playful god, Eros.

Schmitt's inclusive, affirming vision of human sexuality is refreshingly free of moral judgement, yet enriched by an understanding of the complex ethics of human relationships and the redemptive power of love.

La nuit de feu - Italy

 

La Nuit de Feu – Italy
Publication by E/O Edizioni of La nuit de feu.