Le Pays lointain

After years of silent absence, Louis suddenly decides to go back there to his hometown, to find his people and tell them himself that he's going to die soon...

Mother, Brother, Sister and Sister-in-law receive him like a returnee, it's been so long.... Shall we kiss? Where to start? And why doesn't Antoine say anything?

But a huge crowd rushes in to be part of the family photo - all those, near and far, dead and alive, whom Louis may have come across during his brief existence: Father, who died a long time ago, ahead of the rest of the tribe, from forebears to nephews; Louis' lover, the "favorite", who also died of the same illness that...; and here's the ribamboat of friends and family.... ; and here's the string of boys Louis loved (he would have liked to), and all the others still barely touched, never seen again; and the friends, friends of friends, Longue Date, Hélène, in short, the great family of humans who will have made Louis's life, we must remember them all, catch up on everything, at the hour of death, at the hour of final judgment...

F. Rancillac