On the evening of January 6, 2015, Philippe Lancon was in good spirits. He met a friend at a theatre on the outskirts of Paris and enjoyed a performance of Twelfth Night. He was excited about a new opportunity that had come his way: in the next few days he was moving to the US, where he would teach literature at Princeton University for a semester and be reunited with his girlfriend. His immediate future looked bright.
Or so he thought. Lancon was a journalist – a culture critic for the French daily newspaper Liberation but also a columnist for the weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo – and when he visited the offices of that latter publication the following morning, his world was turned upside down. The grisly events made global headlines. Two French terrorist brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, each dressed in black and armed with AK-47s, burst into the magazine's editorial meeting and opened fire at close range. In a killing spree that lasted a little more than two minutes, they left 12 dead and 11 injured. One of those seriously wounded was Lancon.
He lived to tell the tale. Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo makes for a powerful reading experience. It is both a brave account of an unimaginable ordeal and an eloquent depiction of a long and arduous aftermath – one involving constant battles against physical disfigurement, mental trauma and existential dislocation. The recipient of a slew of French literary prizes, Lancon's book now appears in an elegant English translation by Steven Rendall.
After an almost unbearably tense build-up, Lancon shares his broken memories of the day in question and the scene of the crime. He was shot three times. He played dead in a pool of blood. When a stray impulse made him open his eyes, he saw one of the killers standing over him "like a bull eyeing the immobile torero whom he has just gored". Miraculously, he was spared, or at least considered as good as dead.
But although Lancon survived what he quickly learnt was a massacre, he suffered horrifically. The Kouachis destroyed the lower third of his face, mangling his mouth and leaving a crater where his jaw and chin should have been. He recalls surveying the carnage while being carried out of the room, and telling the dead: "You're lucky, for you it's over. For me, it's just beginning."
The rest – and indeed, the bulk – of the book is devoted to what Lancon terms "the slow process of mending". In hospital for more than a year, he describes daily struggles and regular procedures to reconstruct his damaged face. He forms bonds with nurses and surgeons and gets used to the Beretta-wielding security detail outside his door. From his bed he helps the police with their investigation by replaying what happened. Loved ones come in and out of his "cocoon" and sit by his side.
Lancon turns to literature for both comfort and meaning. Tapping into the likes of Baudelaire, Pascal, Racine, Proust and even the adventures of Tintin, he enriches his narrative with choice quotes which mirror his predicament or encapsulate his state of mind. And then one day, on the eve of a major operation, he finds strength and words and writes his first column for the newly resurrected Charlie Hebdo.
Disturbance is entirely Lancon's story. He offers no case study of the Kouachi brothers, nor any discourse on terrorism. He says that he and his colleagues at Charlie Hebdo were united in their refusal "to take an appalling world seriously" – and yet that frivolous approach had frequently offended some. Lancon resists grappling with the ramifications of censorship and free speech, an omission that may leave readers seeking a bigger picture feeling short-changed.
Those who accept at the outset that the author’s priority is the personal over the political will be awed and moved by a story of turbulence, endurance and transformation. We follow Lancon on his tumultuous journey from victim-survivor to living being. There are poignant moments when he remembers fallen friends. Sometimes he is ground down by guilt or despair, other times he vents his frustration at his lack of progress. Less fortunate patients in his ward put his plight in perspective, and news from the outside world about demonstrations and the solidarity slogan, “Je suis Charlie”, gives him hope.
Along with an array of literary references, Lancon blends in many philosophical thoughts and historical meditations. However, his memoir is at its most absorbing when he is in the spotlight, relating his heroic efforts to pick up the pieces, cope with the scars and get his life back on track.
Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo by Philippe Lancon is published by Europa Editions
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
If%20you%20go
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RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
Company%C2%A0profile
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
match info
Maratha Arabians 138-2
C Lynn 91*, A Lyth 20, B Laughlin 1-15
Team Abu Dhabi 114-3
L Wright 40*, L Malinga 0-13, M McClenaghan 1-17
Maratha Arabians won by 24 runs
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5