In 1968, the amazing Hubert Bouccara

Paris was deserted. In the Latin Quarter, students were noisy, occupying the university, Odeon Theatreforming a roadblock. A few hundred meters away, the peaceful French Academy had closed its doors. The members of the academy were no longer old enough to lose their temper. One of them thought so. Joseph Kessel. He lived in Russia under the control of the Bolshevik Revolution and experienced two world wars, so this monolith … he follows him indifferently. This year, he is 70 years old. Young people? He rarely visits them, except for his nephew Patrick. His friend is named Mermoz Béraud, a resistance fighter from Astier de la Vigerie. Today they are called Schoendoerffer, Nucera, Courrière, Moretti.

Cohen-BenditIn July, Mao’s family, he willingly left them to Sartre wait Aragon.

Why did Kessel appear in the square in front of the French Academy on May 15, 1968?

A few days ago, his friend Jeff received an unexpected letter: a carefully filled school notebook with reasonable comments on his work: naive, fresh, interesting. Each book is summarized and analyzed in a childish style. On the last page there is a letter asking to see him. The envelope was left at the Quai de Conti Institute. Handmade: The post office has been on strike for several weeks.

Jeff wondered. Why, after all, had he agreed to the request? Was he moved by the idea of ​​a high school student taking an interest in a work that many critics despised? Did the sender’s name, Bouccara, remind him of a town in this region of Uzbekistan that he had grown fond of since his stay in Central Asia?