''History of Violence'' ( French: ''Histoire de la violence'') is the second novel by French writer

Édouard Louis Édouard Louis (born Eddy Bellegueule; 30 October 1992) is a French writer and sociologist. Biography Édouard Louis, born Eddy Bellegueule was born and raised in the town of Hallencourt in northern France, which is the setting of his firs ...

. It was first published in French by

Seuil Seuil () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 447 communes of the Ardennes department of France France, officially ...

in January, 2016. In 2020, it was shortlisted for the

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

Background

The novel is based on a real incident that occurred on Christmas Eve, 2012.

Synopsis

Told in first-person narration, the novel presents its events in a nonlinear format. The narrator, Édouard, recounts a sexual encounter in Paris on Christmas Eve. The encounter culminates in a violent rape and robbery. Édouard subsequently reports the crime to the police, which causes him more trauma. On a visit home, he overhears his sister and her husband discussing the further details of the assault.

Translations

''History of Violence'' has been translated into English by

Lorin Stein Lorin Hollister Stein (born April 22, 1973) is an American critic, editor, and translator. He was the editor in chief of ''The Paris Review''Dave Itzkoff (March 5, 2010)"Paris Review Names New Editor" ArtsBeat, ''The New York Times''. but resigned ...

. This translation was published in hardcover by Macmillan in June, 2018, and in the United Kingdom in 2019 by

Harvill Secker Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

Reception

In his review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...

wrote, "Thanks to translator Lorin Stein it has retained its complexity, its startling physicality and its moral subtlety in English." Johanna Thomas-Corr of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' called it "a slim but densely layered novel that begins with raw urgency, but then slows and circles the attack, hovering over it with an unnerving luxury."

Adaptations

Stage

A stage adaptation of ''History of Violence'' premiered in November, 2019, at St. Ann's Warehouse. The German-language production was directed by

Thomas Ostermeier Thomas Ostermeier (born 3 September 1968, Soltau, West Germany) is a German theatre director. He currently mainly works for the Schaubühne. Ostermeier is fluent in German, French and English. Career Ostermeier began his theatrical career in 1 ...

; Louis, who was already a big fan of Ostermeier, co-wrote the adaptation with the director and Florian Borchmeyer and was closely involved in the staging of the play. The production starred Laurenz Laufenberg as Édouard, Renato Schuch as Reda, Alina Stiegler as Édouard's sister Clara, and Christoph Gawenda as Clara's husband.

Film

In February 2023, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' reported that Christopher Zwickler and Dario Suter optioned the book rights for a German-language film adaptation. The project is collaboration between the German distributor-producer DCM and the Berlin-based producer Flute Film. Dan Kitrosser has adapted the screenplay and Igor Plischke is set to direct.

References

{{reflist 2016 French novels French autobiographical novels New Year novels Nonlinear narrative novels Novels about rape First-person narrative novels Éditions du Seuil books Macmillan Publishers books