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Jacques Jouet La Republique de Mek-Ouyes Paris. POL. 2001. 822 pages EUR23. ISBN 2-86744-849-2
JACQUES JOUET'S LATEST novel puts its cards on the table boldly, and it is a hand loaded with trumps. Subtitled "roman-- feuilleton," it is a massive work in two parts, the first containing 215 episodes, the second zoi, with each episode containing 4,000 to 5,000 characters (typographical characters, that is - computer oblige). It takes its place as the eleventh installment in Jouet's "Republique Roman" cycle, as the text itself belatedly but complaisantly informs us on page 686. Moreover, its subtitle is more than mere posturing: the first part of La Republique de Mek-Ouyes was indeed serialized - and doubly so, both in radiophonic form on "France-Culture" between September 2000 and June 2001, and simultaneously on POL's website.
Among the many other stories the work tells, the story...