This original science fiction story between The Matrix and K. Dick deserves your full attention and an adaptation into a film or series

News culture This original science fiction story between The Matrix and K. Dick deserves your full attention and an adaptation into a film or series

Published on January 19, 2024 at 9:41 p.m

Cinema and television were very, very inspired by literature. It is absurd to try to list all of this, and a philosophical discussion would lead back to the idea of the palimpsest, which says that we are just rewriting stories that already exist. However, the authors are as imaginative as ever, and this work has enormous potential for adaptation.

Hervé Le Tellier, an author with many roles

Born in Paris in 1957, Herve Le Tellier is an author with a unique journey. Training as a mathematician

, he eventually turned to journalism. A doctor of linguistics and a specialist in limited literatures, he was eventually invited to join Oulipo (Open potential literature). In addition, this literary research group will be the subject of his doctoral thesis, which he will defend in 2002 under the direction of Bernard Cerquiglini.

President of Oulipo since 2019, he has enjoyed a rich career that spans theater and short stories, including novels, essays, operas and even short films, without forgetting satirical publications or numerous chronicles. Among his main worksAbove all, we remember Bar Sonata, I Get Attached Very Easy, Enough of the love talk or Electric W. In 2020 he published The anomaly at Gallimard. This is a so-called Oulipian novel, that speaks to many ways of thinking about writing and that deals with topics related to reality or fiction.

In conclusion, The Anomaly is presented as a novel of all novels. in which ideas and narrative systems intertwine. Hervé Le Tellier himself describes his work as being inspired by the Postmodern science fiction with a cyberpunk twist

and influences from television series. The novel by no means goes unnoticed won the very prestigious Prix Goncourt. Gallimard announced in 2021 that L’Anomalie had been printed in more than a million copies, extremely rare for a Goncourt winner, and that 37 translations were in progress. The time had come in mid-2022 available in 45 languages.

This original science fiction story between The Matrix and K. Dick deserves your full attention and an adaptation into a film or series — Photo credit: BnF

The anomaly, an ideal candidate for adaptation?

The Anomaly is written and told in three parts the story of several passengers on a Paris-New York flight which will take place in March 2021. This plane is caught in a storm of rare proportions, and when the plane arrives at its destination, the storm significantly changes the fate of the characters, including the fate of a writer who is preparing to write a work entitled… “The Anomaly”. The story covers many themes, including the perception of time, reality, life events, disease, war, and even climate.

Hervé Le Tellier goes from one genre to another a story that is considered very cinematic. Lots of readers I saw the Matrix or Philip K. Dick therea very famous author whose works gave rise to films or series such as Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report or The man in the High Castle. If we put it all together, we say to ourselves: “The Anomaly” brings together All the ingredients make it an excellent candidate for customization. Nothing has been announced at the moment, but Hervé Le Tellier doesn’t dislike the idea:

There is a cinematographic dimension, a dimension of the narrative arcs as well as in the series. “It’s true that I wouldn’t mind seeing what it might look like on a screen,” he explained as he accepted the goncourt.

L’Anomalie is available from Gallimard in paperback format, but also in pocket format folio editions.