French Literature Reviews - 2026
B. Remaury, L'ordre des choses
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Bruno Remaury
L'Ordre des choses
Librairie J. Corti, Sept. 2021
180 p. — ISBN: 978-2-7143-1259-4 — €17.50
Bridging fiction and non-fiction, this book outlines the evolution of our relationship with material things. Over the course of a few centuries, this relationship has shifted from a fluid, open vision—rooted in ancient systems that connected humankind to its surrounding environment of animals and plants, stars and gods—to a compartmentalized, enlightened order in which every object occupies a fixed, predetermined place.
The narrative weaves together an Enlightenment hunter, Daniel Defoe and Robinson Crusoe, a hiding child, a ruthless countess, the Encyclopedists, a feral child, a traveler in Sicily, Emperor Tiberius, Piero di Cosimo, the god Pan, a witch, an English homeless person, alongside figures and rituals emerging from the depths of time.
Rather than a sequel, this work is an extension of the landscape explored in Le Monde horizontal and Rien pour demain. L’Ordre des choses adopts the same narrative framework of fragments and associations, woven from both real and fictional characters. At the end of this journey—one in which the reader also acts as a translator—emerges a portrait of how modernity, in the broadest sense, has reshaped the conceptual frameworks through which we comprehend our surroundings.
Bruno Remaury was born in 1961. Following studies in art and a PhD in social anthropology, he spent many years in vocational education, where he also managed a book series.
His debut literary text, “Le Monde horizontal”, published by Corti in 2019, received widespread critical acclaim from the press and booksellers alike. He was awarded the Special Jury Mention for the Prix Wepler Fondation de la Poste in 2019.
Bruno Remaury writes within a contemporary French tradition of essayistic writing that bridges social anthropology, philosophy, and narrative prose. Works of this kind often examine cultural shifts and the conceptual frameworks of modernity by assembling disparate historical and literary fragments. The transition from ancient, fluid worldviews to the compartmentalized structures of the Enlightenment remains a central theme in cultural studies and the history of ideas. Readers interested in the evolution of material culture, the history of anthropology, and the intersection of literature and philosophy may find this volume relevant.
The text continues a literary exploration initiated in the author's previous works, such as Le Monde horizontal and Rien pour demain. L'Ordre des choses adopts the same narrative framework of fragments and associations, woven from both real and fictional characters, to outline the evolution of our relationship with material things over the course of a few centuries.