"Finalement, il vous dit quelque chose, notre homme ? Nous arrivions à hauteur de Gonfreville-l’Orcher, la raffinerie sortait de terre, indéchiffrable et nébuleuse, façon Gotham City, une autre ville derrière la ville, j’ai baissé ma vitre et inhalé longuement, le nez orienté vers les tours de distillation, vers ce Meccano démentiel. L’étrange puanteur s’engouffrait dans la voiture, mélange d’hydrocarbures, de sel et de poudre. Il m’a intimé de refermer, avant de m’interroger de nouveau, pourquoi avais-je finalement demandé à voir le corps ? C’est que vous y avez repensé, c’est que quelque chose a dû vous revenir. Oui, j’y avais repensé. Qu’est-ce qu’il s’imaginait. Je n’avais pratiquement fait que penser à ça depuis ce matin, mais y penser avait fini par prendre la forme d’une ville, d’un premier amour, la forme d’un porte-conteneurs."
Maylis de Kerangal Book order
Maylis de Kerangal is a contemporary French author whose works are known for their deep exploration of human experience, particularly within the context of physical labor and its profound meanings. Her style is characterized by precise, almost surgical observation of the body and its actions, which she intertwines with existential questions of life and death. She often examines how work shapes our identity and its impact on relationships and society. Kerangal's approach to writing is marked by great craftsmanship, creating rich and layered texts that draw readers into the world of her characters and their environments.







- 2024
- 2024
- 2024
In "Eine transsibirische Fahrt ins Ungewisse" erzählt Maylis de Kerangal von Alioscha, einem Zwangsrekruten, der in der transsibirischen Eisenbahn desertieren will. Er trifft auf Hélène, eine ältere Französin, mit der er eine geheimnisvolle Verbindung spürt. Gemeinsam stehen sie vor der Herausforderung, einen Fluchtplan zu verwirklichen.
- 2021
A beautiful collection of seven short stories and a novella themed around women's voices from the author of Mend the Living and Painting Time
- 2019
Zadig, nouveau trimestriel sous la direction d'Eric Fottorino propose un voyage extraordinaire dans la France d'aujourd'hui.Il s'agit d'offrir aux lecteurs de multiples regards sur la France d'aujourd'hui avec l'objectif de rendre lisible un pays devenu illisible : la FranceLa dimension régionale est illustrée par une carte de la France et de son Outre-mer que Zadig sillonnera numéro après numéroChristian BOBIN, Maylis de KERANGAL, Léonor RECONDO, Hervé LEBRAS, Mona OZOUF, Pierre ROSANVALLON, Leila SLIMANI, Marie DESPLECHIN, Régis JAUFFRET, ainsi que Patrick BOUCHERON qui traite d'un grand livre qui a marqué sur la France, en occurrence " L'identité de la France " de Braudel, ont participé à ce premier numéro.
- 2019
The Cook
- 112 pages
- 4 hours of reading
"A slim, bountiful, beautifully written (and gorgeously translated) 'Portrait of the Chef as a Young Man.'" --Nancy Klinke, The New York Times Book Review One of BBC Culture's Ten Books to Read this March and The Rumpus Book Club Pick for March Maylis de Kerangal follows up her acclaimed novel The Heart with a dissection of the world of a young Parisian chef More like a poetic biographical essay on a fictional person than a novel, The Cook is a coming-of-age journey centered on Mauro, a young self-taught cook. The story is told by an unnamed female narrator, Mauro’s friend and disciple who we also suspect might be in love with him. Set not only in Paris but in Berlin, Thailand, Burma, and other far-flung places over the course of fifteen years, the book is hyperrealistic—to the point of feeling, at times, like a documentary. It transcends this simplistic form, however, through the lyricism and intensely vivid evocative nature of Maylis de Kerangal’s prose, which conjures moods, sensations, and flavors, as well as the exhausting rigor and sometimes violent abuses of kitchen work. In The Cook, we follow Mauro as he finds his path in life: baking cakes as a child; cooking for his friends as a teenager; a series of studies, jobs, and travels; a failed love affair; a successful business; a virtual nervous breakdown; and—at the end—a rediscovery of his hunger for cooking, his appetite for life.
- 2019
Painting Time
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
An aesthetic and existential coming-of-age novel exploring the apprenticeship of a young female painter, Paula Karst, who is enrolled at the famous Institut de Peinture in Brussels. With the attention of a documentary filmmaker, de Kerangal follows Paula's apprenticeship, punctuated by brushstrokes, hard work, sleepless nights, sore muscles, and long, festive evenings. After completing her studies at the Institute, Paula continues to practice her art in Paris, in Moscow, then in Italy on the sets of great films, all as if rehearsing for a grand finale: at a job working on Lascaux IV, a facsimile reproduction of the world's most famous paleolithic cave art and the apotheosis of human cultural expression.
- 2015
Dans Folioplus classiques, le texte intégral, enrichi d'une lecture d'image, écho pictural de l'oeuvre, est suivi de sa mise en perspective organisée en six points : vie littéraire, la matière du réel ; genre et registre, corps, gestes et voix, une écriture du mouvement ; l'écrivain à sa table de travail, le paysage de la fiction ; groupement de textes, éclats de la jeunesse ; chronologie, Maylis de Kerangal et son temps ; fiche, des pistes pour rendre compte de sa lecture.
- 2014
The Heart
- 242 pages
- 9 hours of reading
"An audacious novel about the 24 hours surrounding a heart transplant"--
- 2012
"In this swirling, gripping tale, a young Russian conscript and a French woman come together in a crowded compartment of the Trans-Siberian railroad, each of them fleeing to the east for their own reasons"-- Provided by publisher



