2023-10-13 16:59:18
► On the new side
♦ History of the XV of France
butcher shop oval
Marabout, 288 p., €32
Satirical. Brand new, brand new, the funny band of Boucherie ovalie which usually rages on the Internet, has chosen to return to the real world to produce an essential work which tells the small, the big (and sometimes average) history of the XV of France .
“Masked Oval”, pseudonym of the host of the Boucherie ovalie site, and his acolytes have concocted a remarkable work. A plush model hosts photographs, improbable anecdotes, crazy questionnaires, moments of history and rugby personalities in a jovial and dilapidated mood. Obviously, second degree required. Enough to approach the game of rugby from the satirical side.
♦ The sky has legs
by Benoit Jeantet
Les Éditions du Volcan, 222 p., €16
Melancholy. No great flights of fancy on the exploits of the XV of France or the glorious episodes of legendary clubs in this collection of short stories, all very short. For the writer Benoit Jeantet, rugby is a source of melancholy, of childhood memories of distant friendships forged around a shared ball, on the field or in the bistro. These are village stories, beautiful and unimportant, to read and reread where tenderness and nostalgia emerge.
► And the classics
♦ The Fabulous History of Rugby
by Henri Garcia
Éditions de La Martinière, 1,216 p., €29.90
Encyclopedic. In a more serious register than that of Boucherie Ovalie, Henri Garcia, journalist and former director of The Teamcompiles in this thick book the great moments in the history of the oval ball, from the beginnings to the origins, and up to the most recent episodes of the World Cup, the first edition of which was published in 1987.
An inexhaustible source of rugby knowledge, this veritable encyclopedia lists the foundations and developments of this sport. It gives pride of place to the French championship and the French XV, and recounts memorable victories and defeats with the big names who animated the glorious hours of the national team. Published for the first time in 1973, the work has been updated over time and has become a classic.
♦ Noise beneath the silence
by Pascal Désaint
Rivages Noir (paperback), 384 p., €8.50
Polar. The relationship is not necessarily cordial and relaxed between commissioner Elie Verlande, a native of Dunkirk, and captain Benoit Terrancle, originally from the South-West. However, they team up to investigate the murder of scrum half and star of the Toulouse rugby team Maurice Tamboréro.
In a story where rugby transpires – we are in Toulouse, after all – the intrigue is nourished by their two voices and builds to a crescendo over the course of short chapters. No downtime in this thriller by writer Pascal Dessaint, which gives pride of place to the XV game and whose outcome promises to be, until the end, as uncertain as the trajectory of the oval ball.
♦ Oval ironies
by Antoine Blondin
The Round Table, 128 p., €12.20.
Rarity. This little book lists the chronicles of the late Antoine Blondin, former sports columnist and above all writer, great lover of the little queen and the Tour de France but also full of affection for the prodigies and wonders of the XV game. What fireworks when he becomes enthusiastic about the fervor of Jean Dauger, the self-sacrifice of Jean Prat or «the radiant image » of “big blondie” Jean-Pierre Rives!
We delight in his writing – “As paradoxical as it may seem, we first like the oval for its roundness. Majesty is given to it in addition, when we have imbued ourselves with all the values that it liberates” –, and many other literary pranks which flourish the pages of this little gem.
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