ISBN Tanger 54, Romantiek, Frans, Paperback

TANGIERS 54 Who drew the picture that the actor Gérard Desarthe bought at a market in Normandy in July 2010? Where is this pastel of a young Arab from? Is the name William Burroughs there as a signature or a dedication? Mona Thomas, a friend of the actor and an art critic, is immediately on the trail of a mystery and leads an enquiry, intrigued by clues as mysterious as they are promising. Why did this portrait come such a long way but isn't listed in any catalogues? Mona Thomas has to embark into the Tangiers of the 1950s, the chosen destination of the Beat Generation, where they pursued an unusual artistic adventure in which artificial paradise, prostitution, homosexuality, parties and chance meetings all combined in apparent harmony. There, amongst many others, she meets the American writer Paul Bowles, revisits the tortured life and work of Francis Bacon, and finds Ahmed Yacoubi, a young painter and model from Tangiers on whom every lead converges. Mona Thomas's quest has become a page-turning, seductive book which asks questions about life at the heart of the creative process, the respective roles of model and patron, and love and its share in self-destruction. It describes an era and a context in which, for 500 pesetas, some would rather pay for the attentions of a boy than buy a painting. The author also asks essential questions: how can a work be authenticated? Who decides its value? How should an artist's "rejects" be viewed? But who did draw the picture? The hypothesis put forward by Mona Thomas is at the very least audacious, and brings the reader to a luminous, staggering epilogue. Mona Thomas was born in Finistère and lives in Paris. She is a writer and art critic, and has already had eight novels published, including Alar (Fayard, 1995), and Ton visage d'animal (Champ Vallon, 2008), as well as three essays on contemporary art and La bibliothèque du docteur Lise (Stock, "La Forêt" series, 2011).

Mona Thomas (Auteur) - Verschenen op 15/02/2012 bij Stock