With Happy lifeDavid Foenkinos signs his most magnetic novel since The Henri Pick mystery. We contacted the author in France to talk to him about this new title which evokes the desire to change one’s life.
At the heart of Happy life, there is this Korean ritual which consists of simulating one’s own funeral and which will transform the existence of one of your characters, Eric. It was during a stay in Seoul that you yourself discovered this ritual.
I actually heard about it when I went to Seoul for one of my novels. It had a huge impact on me. I had a death experience at the age of 16 and it’s true that many of my books revolve around this theme which is very important to me. There are a lot of suicides in South Korea and a lot of unhappiness, and I was quite touched by the image of these suffering people, in videos, in front of their coffin, with their photos, who are writing a letter farewell or an epitaph, put themselves in the coffin and then come out after an hour. I read on Korean forums (with the Google translation application) all the well-being that this therapy can bring. There are comments that say: “It’s like a life beginning. » It obviously doesn’t work every time, of course, but it can be a very, very strong human experience which means that afterwards we put things into more perspective. It fascinated me.
How did you experience this experience of death at 16?
I had a serious illness and just before being operated on, before the anesthesia, in fact, I had the experience of this tunnel of light. I think that if I am so animated by the subject of the book, it is because it resonates in a very strong and very intimate way. I experienced this tunnel of light, I left, and at some point I stopped and went back up. At that moment, it was a form of relief, of ecstasy. But the crazy thing is that I came back feeling like a different person.
There were no books at home, I didn’t come from a cultural background at all, but during long months in the hospital, I started reading, writing, seeing everything through the prism of beauty and to have a totally different relationship to life.
David Foenkinos
And I can see how beneficial an encounter with death can be.
This novel also leads you to approach different ways in which funeral rites are celebrated around the world – in India, Mexico, Senegal.
I find that the relationship with death, depending on the country and the civilizations, is fascinating. It’s true that it depends on the circumstances, but in certain cases, it is obvious that, in a rather clichéd way – when it is obviously not linked to a tragedy, an illness or something early -, it is a life impulse to go to cemeteries, to burials. Each time, we come away with the desire to savor the things in life.
There is this moment in the novel where you speak of the “dictatorship of having to appear enthusiastic”, while Eric is unable to express his discomfort. Do you think it’s bad form these days to show negative feelings?
We have rarely been so subject to the dictatorship of appearance. We are constantly scrutinized, watched, commented on. It is also linked to our era which has discovered social networks for two decades. It changed a lot of things in human relationships; it modifies our own relationship to our fulfillment, to our happiness. We are in a time where, for the first time, we really have access to the lives of others. Sometimes we feel like we’re doing well, but seeing other people’s happiness can make us feel unwell. There is something of the order of unconscious virtual competition which means that we now define ourselves much more in relation to others than before, I find. When you’re not doing well and are constantly subject to other people’s dream lives, it becomes quite unbearable and people often try to appear happier than they really are.
Ultimately, what is a happy life in this day and age?
The heart of my book is the reinvention of oneself, it is the idea of seeking happiness, fulfillment, of changing one’s life, of changing one’s trajectory. […] I think that we should not ignore the moments when we are in discomfort, melancholy, weariness, because it is a profound part of being human. We must not be obsessed with happiness at all costs. My two characters will change their lives, will reflect on their trajectory and will find a form of fulfillment which is contrary to what they imagined at the beginning. […] I like the idea that we can start from scratch and reinvent ourselves. I find that we have several lives.
Happy life
Gallimard
208 pages