Best-selling writer Maxime Chattam publishes "The Illusion", a novel that will remind readers of "The Shining", Stephen King's legendary horror novel.
Guest of "Cutlure Médias", the Frenchman explains the links he has with the American novelist.
INTERVIEW
Maxime Chattam feared the comparison with The
Shining
, he decided to make it one of the strong points of his new novel.
In
L'illusion
, the French writer has chosen for himself from his plot a disturbing deserted ski resort, reminiscent of Stephen King's horror novel.
Maxime Chattam explains to Philippe Vandel's microphone how he played with the work of the American author, whom he had the chance to meet.
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"You created me"
Stephen King was one of Maxime Chattam's teenage idols.
"When I was a reader, it took me out of my teenage angst," Maxime Chattam analyzes.
“When you read horrible stuff like the one Stephen King writes, you relativize the horror of the world you live in. And, later, he was one of the writers who made me want to write. "
The two writers have met on several occasions.
The Frenchman remembers being very intimidated the first time.
"I told him 'You made me'", recalls the novelist.
"But he said, 'No, no, nobody's done by anyone else. You made yourself all by yourself.' I thought that was very nice of him."
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"If I see twins in blue dresses, I leave"
It is on the strength of this exchange that Maxime Chattam decided to situate the story of his novel
Illusion
in a setting reminiscent of that of The
Shining
.
"You say 'thriller in a closed or abandoned ski resort', everyone thinks of The
Shining,
" admits the writer.
"I played for the atmosphere and the setting, in order to defuse this comparison and take advantage of it to finally install my vision".
In this game with the work of Stephen King, Maxime Chattam slips a few winks to the readers of the American.
"If I see twins in blue dresses, I leave," he says to his main character, referring to the two young dead sisters who appear in the American novel.
The setting in abyss is even pushed even further, when Hugo, the main character, explains that he would like to write a novel about this ski resort that he discovers.
His interlocutor then answers: "But if he writes a novel here, it will be Stephen King!".