French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Roger, Beyond Truth and Falsehood
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Alain Roger

Beyond Truth and Falsehood

Paris, Éditions de la Baconnière, 2016

ISBN: 978-2-940431-45-8

Publisher's Description:

“Beyond Truth and Falsehood” is a free-form essay, alternating theoretical chapters and narrative sections, written in 1964–1965, which, in its anarchist style, prefigures the explosion of May '68. Though never published, it was nevertheless foundational and essential for Alain Roger, now widely recognized as a philosopher (“Bréviaire de la bêtise”, Gallimard, 2008) and novelist (“La Travestie”, Grasset, 1987). This text was read and recommended by Gilles Deleuze, his teacher who became his friend.
“I was then emerging from an ungrateful decade, mainly devoted to academic tasks (preparing for the entrance exam to the ENS on Rue d'Ulm, and the agrégation in philosophy), and then to military obligations (as a grenadier-voltigeur in the 5th Infantry Regiment). Freed from these constraints, I experienced a kind of state of grace, a period of euphoria and intellectual effervescence, expressed through a literary and libertarian compulsion not unlike the automatic writing of the Surrealists, so that, drawing inspiration from Breton’s famous line at the end of Nadja, I could have proudly proclaimed: philosophy will be convulsive or it will not be!”

The text belongs to the tradition of the philosophical essay, adopting a free-form structure that alternates between theoretical reflection and narrative passages. Written during a period of personal liberation following rigorous academic and military obligations, the work captures the intellectual effervescence of the mid-1960s. Its libertarian style and spontaneous composition align with historical avant-garde movements that sought to break conventional boundaries between literature and philosophy. Alain Roger later established a notable career as both a novelist and a philosopher, producing works that engage with cultural critique and aesthetics.

Readers interested in the intellectual precursors of the May 1968 social movements and the milieu surrounding twentieth-century French philosophy may find this publication relevant. While the book remained unpublished for decades, its historical proximity to prominent figures such as Gilles Deleuze places it within a distinct network of post-war Parisian thought. It reflects a moment when traditional academic philosophy encountered a more urgent, experimental impulse.