Fouad Nerrouche
Main character: Fouad Nerrouche
Country of origin: France
Main location: Paris, Saint-Étienne (France)
Creator: Sabri Louatah
Born in: Saint-Étienne (France)
Born on: September 25, 1983
Nationality: French
Literary series title: Les Sauvages
Literary series started in: 2011, Les Sauvages. Tome I (Eng. transl.: Savages)
Original language: French
Publisher: Flammarion-Versilio (Paris, France)
Number of books (original editions): 4
Latest title published in: 2014, Les Sauvages. Tome IV
Translations: Yes
Television series title: Les Sauvages
Television series started in: 2019
Producer: Canal +, France
Number of seasons: 1
Latest season broadcast: 2019
Transnational distribution: No
Case study rationale
Les Sauvages [Savages] is a literary saga that presents an alternative reality in which a socialist candidate of Maghrebi descent and Muslim faith, Idder Chaouch, wins the 2012 French presidential election against incumbent President Nicholas Sarkozy. The novel offers special attention to social and political issues, ethnicity, religion, and multiculturalism in France. The author, Sabri Louatah, affirmed that the aim of his crime novels was to write a story that resonated with his reality. Critics often juxtapose Sabri’s crime narrative with Michel Houellebecq’s well-known novel, Soumission [Submission] (2015), which also imagines a 2012 France electing a Franco-Algerian socialist President affiliated with a religious political party—an aspect that has drawn criticism for its portrayal of Islam. In spite of their major differences, it is noteworthy that both works stage and play on French anxieties of terrorism, Islam, immigration, and the pluralization of its society. In 2019, Louatah’s story was adapted in a television series, Les Sauvages (Canal+), co-directed by Sabri Louatah and Rebecca Zlotwski, based on parts the first volume. The cast includes renowned actors, such as Roschdy Zem as Idder Chaouch, and Marina Foïs as Marion. Les Sauvages is a intermedial narrative, translated in many languages, that offers news perspectives of writing and imagining crime fiction in twenty-first century France.
Online research resources
Watch
Novel teaser with Sabri Louatah, 11 October 2018 [in English]:
Novel teaser with Sabri Louatah, 11 October 2018 [in English]:
Official TV Series Trailer [in French]:
Official TV Series Trailer [in French]:
Series teaser with short interviews, 1 October 2019 [in French]:
Series teaser with short interviews, 1 October 2019 [in French]:
Browse
- Review of the novel: Mathilde Billaud-Walker, “New in French: Les Sauvages by Sabri Louatah,” In Words Without Borders, 10 July 2014.
- Review of the TV series, “Les Sauvages: une politique-fiction ambitieuse imagine Roschdy Zem à l’Elysée”. France 24, 17 September 2019.
- Florence Colambani interview Rebecca Zlotowski. “Les Sauvages: La France n’est pas près d’élire un homme politique d’origine kabyle”. Le Point, 24 September 2019.
Read
- McQueen, Fraser. “France’s ‘Elites,’ Islamophobia, and Communities of Friendship in Sabri Louatah’s Les Sauvages.” Modern & Contemporary France, 26 , 2 Jan. 2018. 77–90.
- Despentes, Virginie. “Les doux ‘Sauvages’ de Sabri Louatah”. Le Monde, 11 May 2012.
- Delahaye, Martine. “’Les Sauvages,’ une fresque politique et familiale haletante”. Le Monde, 23 September 2019.
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