Joseph Ponthus – författare

A celebrated French bestseller, this novel in verse that captures the mundane and the beautiful, the blood and sweat, of working on the factory floor in the processing plants and abattoirs of Brittany.Unable to find work in his field, Joseph Ponthus enlists with a temp agency and starts to pick up casual shifts in the fish processing plants and abattoirs of Brittany. Day after day he records with infinite precision the nature of work on the production line: the noise, the weariness, the dreams stolen by the repetitive nature of exhausting rituals and physical suffering. But he finds solace in a life previously lived.Shelling prawns, he dreams of Alexandre Dumas. Pushing cattle carcasses, he recalls Apollinaire. And, in the grace of the blank spaces created by his insistent return to a new line of text – mirroring his continued return to the production line – we discover the woman he loves, the happiness of a Sunday, Pok Pok the dog, the smell of the sea.In this celebrated French bestseller, translated by Stephanie Smee, Ponthus captures the mundane, the beautiful and the strange, writing with an elegance and humour that sit in poignant contrast with the blood and sweat of the factory floor. On the Line is a poet's ode to manual labour, and to the human spirit that makes it bearable.Praise for On the Line:'Poetic and political, lyrical and realistic, Joseph Ponthus' spirited elegy is at once surprising, captivating and affecting' Télérama'It is not every day that one witnesses the birth of a writer' France 5 La Grande Librairie'A work that is powerful, clever, benevolent, optimistic even. Essential reading' Causette'Be prepared for a battering of the senses with vivid, grisly prose' France Magazine

A celebrated French bestseller, this novel in verse that captures the mundane and the beautiful, the blood and sweat, of working on the factory floor in the processing plants and abattoirs of Brittany.Unable to find work in his field, Joseph Ponthus enlists with a temp agency and starts to pick up casual shifts in the fish processing plants and abattoirs of Brittany. Day after day he records with infinite precision the nature of work on the production line: the noise, the weariness, the dreams stolen by the repetitive nature of exhausting rituals and physical suffering. But he finds solace in a life previously lived.Shelling prawns, he dreams of Alexandre Dumas. Pushing cattle carcasses, he recalls Apollinaire. And, in the grace of the blank spaces created by his insistent return to a new line of text – mirroring his continued return to the production line – we discover the woman he loves, the happiness of a Sunday, Pok Pok the dog, the smell of the sea.In this celebrated French bestseller, translated by Stephanie Smee, Ponthus captures the mundane, the beautiful and the strange, writing with an elegance and humour that sit in poignant contrast with the blood and sweat of the factory floor. On the Line is a poet''s ode to manual labour, and to the human spirit that makes it bearable.Praise for On the Line:''Poetic and political, lyrical and realistic, Joseph Ponthus'' spirited elegy is at once surprising, captivating and affecting'' Télérama''It is not every day that one witnesses the birth of a writer'' France 5 La Grande Librairie''A work that is powerful, clever, benevolent, optimistic even. Essential reading'' Causette''Be prepared for a battering of the senses with vivid, grisly prose'' France Magazine

"À la ligne" är Joseph Ponthus debutroman. Den följer en tillfällig arbetare på fiskkonservfabriker och slakterier och berättar om svårigheterna och hans flykt genom litteraturen. Denna kraftfulla berättelse hyllar uthållighet och avslöjar skönheten som finns mitt i arbete och kamp.

Arbeiterpoetik und Tagebuchaufzeichnungen verbinden sich in diesem ungewöhnlichen Roman zu einem solidarischen und zärtlichen Manifest.»Am laufenden Band« ist die Geschichte eines jungen Mannes, der als Zeitarbeiter in Fischfabriken und Schlachthöfen in der Bretagne arbeitet. In einer einfachen und einfühlsamen Sprache erzählt Joseph Ponthus mit viel Humor von seinem Arbeitsalltag. Er berichtet von Monotonie und Schichtarbeit, von Kälte und Gestank, von körperlicher Erschöpfung und dem allgegenwärtigen Tod von Tieren, aber auch von der Solidarität der Arbeiterschaft und der »paradoxen Schönheit« der Hallen. Während er am Fließband steht und gegen Tonnen von Wellhornschnecken kämpft, erinnert er sich an die Musikerinnen und Schriftsteller, die ihn prägten. Dank Dumas wird er wieder Musketier, mit Apollinaire ist er Lous Liebhaber, mit Marx kämpft er gegen die Auswüchse des Kapitalismus.

Vad gör arbetet med oss, och hur kan vi göra motstånd?

Med en sylvass och genresprängande prosa skriver Joseph Ponthus om livet på de fabriker som vi tror att utvecklingen lämnat därhän. Hans huvudperson förlorar jobbet och tvingas slita på en fiskfabrik, en tofufabrik och ett slakteri, och ser sig gradvis brytas ner.

Vid bandet är en kritikerrosad poetisk roman om arbetets meningslöshet, och de sätt vi kan bevara människovärdet även i en så själsdödande miljö som det moderna arbetslivet. På svenska i översättning av Jenny Högström.

Joseph Ponthus är romanförfattare. Vid bandet är hans första bok.