American plan
de Seth Greenland
Translated from English (United States) by Adélaïde Pralon
Editions Liana Levi, 320 p., €22
New York, late 1970s. The city is in turmoil and in disrepair. Municipal finances are on the verge of bankruptcy. Entire neighborhoods are falling into ruin, blighted by drugs and prostitution. Real estate prices are plummeting. And it’s an opportunity for young artists. Writers, actors, musicians, filmmakers can set up shop at lower costs. Manhattan then experienced an incredible creative ferment.
Against this backdrop, Seth Greenland’s heroes dream of being recognized as great artists. Starting with the narrator of the book, Pablo Schwartzman, 25 years old, son of a Jewish haberdashery merchant. Crazy about cinema, a passionate admirer of François Truffaut, he earns his living by writing reviews of X-rated films but works at night on a film script about Cicero.
A random project, to say the least, from which his friends divert him. Kit, young actress from South Africa, looking for roles and a husband to avoid deportation. Jay Gladstone, son of a rich real estate developer who would like to escape his destiny as heir by trying his luck as a film producer. Avery, black actress and singer just graduated from the prestigious Juilliard School. Or even Ving who dreams of being the “Woody Allen noir”.
Adventures
Jay falls in love with Avery and wants to make a film around her. The fashion is then blaxploitationfilms in which all the actors are black (remember, Shaft). He casts Pablo on a science fiction scenario where all the white people are dead except one Jewish gangster. “I imagined a work mixing elements of blaxploitation with those of a Wim Wenders-style road movie. » All that remains is to find the money to shoot the film. Jay’s father doesn’t want to hear about anything. Marat Reznikov is interested. Ukrainian henchman, former rent collector for the Gladstone group: as one might suspect, the origin of his funds is murky…
The adventures follow one another at a rapid pace. We will not tell them, other than to say that the story is gripping until the end and that the ending is not frustrating or botched unlike many books of this genre. Seth Greenland knows how to do it. He is a novelist but also a film and television screenwriter. However, behind the pleasure of reading and the constant humor of the text, there are deep topics.
Just Kids
The novel plunges us into the heart of the non-relations between white and black Americans. “What did I know about the condition of black women in this country? », asks Pablo. He wants to discuss it with Avery who replies, a little stubbornly: “What’s it like to be white?” » The question already arises: can a white person legitimately write a screenplay in which all the characters, except one, are black? It still arises today, with virulence. For the moment, Seth Greenland prefers to wait before publishing his book in the United States in order to avoid the risk of controversy.
American plan is also a beautiful novel about an artist’s life dream which comes true, or not. We think several times about Just Kids by the singer and poet Patti Smith where she recounted her New York beginnings at the same time. Which is no small compliment.
2023-10-11 07:00:00
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