Une Matiere Inflammable

INFLAMMABLE MATERIALIn the 1990s, as his eventful teens come to an end, the narrator Frank is trying to step into line. To succeed, he accepts help from family friends, Patrick and Paula Zimmermann. Former Trotskyite militant Patrick is an economist and a successful author. His wife Paula is Israeli by birth and she throws herself into their Parisian social life to escape the weight of her history. They are both members of the liberal left which was then close to power. Frank becomes Patrick's ghost writer out of necessity and Paula's lover out of love, and follows them into intellectual and political circles at the height of their power, an environment that fascinates and disgusts him.
Now 2013, against a background of social decay and very public scandals, people's true colours are beginning to show. After twenty years apart, Frank meets up with the Zimmermanns again. The personal tragedies that come to light force each of them to confront unexpected truths.
Corruption and integrity, respectful relationships and domination, pretence and being true to oneself - these are some of the themes in this bold, funny and brutal book. True to his usual obsessions, Marc Weitzmann reveals his vision of a French reality through his explosive fiction.Marc Weitzmann is a novelist. His most significant works to date are Mariage mixte (2000), Une place dans le monde (2004), Fraternité (2006) and Quand j'étais normal (2010). He is a contributor to Le Monde des livres.