Éric Chevillard: Le Désordre azerty (2014)

Le Désordre azerty obviously refers to the French keyboard (in the English model: 'qwerty'), and in fact the sections in the novel are written in that order – the way the keyboard goes from left to right, left to right, left to right. The structure of the book – and it certainly has a rudimentary structure – takes a word beginning with a letter from the azerty keyboard: so obviously the novel has twenty-six sections. And although the content in these sections doesn't have a particular order, several of Chevillard's obsessions or preoccupations (animals, the state of the world, paradox, writing, etc) are quite clear from the words illustrated. This is almost certainly the most autobiographical of Chevillard's novels so far.

We begin with 'Aspe', which the narrator says he is annoyed to find he doesn't know the meaning of: although he doesn't mention it, 'aspe' is in fact a word for reel, as in cotton reel, film reel, etc. 'Aspe' comes slightly after 'asocial', which of course refers to a lack of adaptation to social life, as might perhaps to some extent be a reference to Chevillard himself.

I think ten pages here is the maximum for each section, and even the second one – 'Zoo' (Chevillard of course being highly interested in animals of all kinds, including insects) – only has seven pages, although it's a great opportunity for Chevillard to make one of his beloved lists. 'Ennemi' (nine pages) has a typical paradoxical statement of an enemy, which reminded me of Sartre saying in Reflexions sur la question juive that anti-Semites love to have a Jewish friend: 'il aime paradoxalement mais avidement ce qu'il n'aime pas': 'Paradoxically he loves what he doesn't love'.

'L'Origine' (eight pages) is a chance for  Chevillard to launch into a criticism of modern life, of humanity heading towards the void: our technological progress is in fact leading to our suicide. No names, though: Chevillard remains apolitical as usual. He prefers to look towards the past, to prehistory, for solace.

This novel is full of Chevillard's usual wonders, but perhaps 'Quinquagéniare' (ten pages) is the most interesting as he talks about himself, giving a list of things he's done in the fifty years of his life so far, and it has a definite smack of Georges Perec's Je me souviens.

My Éric Chevillard posts:

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Éric Chevillard: Oreille rouge | Red Ear (2005)
Éric Chevillard: L'Explosion de la tortue (2019)
Éric Chevillard: La Nébuleuse du crabe | The Crab Nebula (1993)
Éric Chevillard – Au plafond | On the Ceiling
Éric Chevillard: Le Désordre azerty
Éric Chevillard: Dino Egger
Éric Chevillard: Le Vaillant Petit Tailleur
Éric Chevillard: Le Caoutchouc décidément
Éric Chevillard: Palafox
Éric Chevillard: Un fantôme
Éric Chevillard: Du hérisson | Of the Hedgehog
Éric Chevillard: Démolir Nisard | Demolishing Nisard