Reading Group on An Honourable Exit by Éric Vuillard

This reading group is dedicated to the book. Please note that the author won’t be present in person.

19 October 1950. In Paris, politicians gather to discuss what to do about Indochina. The conflict is unpopular back home in France: too expensive, and too far away for the public to care. A solution needs to be found.

Through a series of key moments, Éric Vuillard retraces almost thirty years of a bloody war that killed four million people, three quarters of them on the Vietnamese side. Juxtaposing the violence of the battlefields with the comfortable atmosphere of places of power, the author dissects with sharp acuity the mechanisms of power, the relations of domination and the violence of language.

From behind the scenes, Éric Vuillard continues his fascinating exploration of History and ferociously describes a conflict that dealt a fatal blow to French colonialism.

You can find information on the book in English on the British publisher’s website.