Richard Lange is no stranger. A collection of short stories Dead boysnovels This evil world AND Angel child (published in France by Albin Michel) received an enthusiastic reception in the United States. What these books have in common is that they immerse the reader in the brutality of the margins where the American dream is shattered.
Published by Rivages, The Wanderers, Lange’s latest work, is no exception. We follow the crossed destinies of Jesse, haunted by a lost love, and his brother Edgar, a retard surrounded by a cat straight out of Simetierre; a group of ruthless bikers nicknamed “Demons”, led as an alpha pack by the couple Antonia and Eliáš; and finally the grieving Father Sanders, ready to do anything to avenge his murdered son. The narrative moves from one group to another, sometimes backtracking, simply advancing the action or using digressions that shed light on the characters until their inevitable confrontation.
The peculiarity of this story, dark and brutal as American writers can make it, this road trip that peels away all the layers of humanity’s darkness accumulated across the Atlantic, lies in the nature of Jesse, Edgar, the bikers. and others that Sanders discovers during his quest: these “vagrants” are vampires. Oh, not the sparkly one Dusk, nor draculistically aristocratic. Rather, lost people, people on the fringes of society, predators condemned to discretion and eternal wandering, to dirty motels, stolen cars, drunks and prostitutes who bleed to feed them quietly.
Pilgrims live forever, can “spill over” any human, and die only by the sun – or by a blade that cuts off their head. The story is set in the 1970s, but could have taken place at any time, Lange’s characters experience the indifference to their times in a timeless distress. However, they are not condemned to permanent darkness; the author sometimes lets a few flashes of light stir the darkness, thanks to a few memories, revived feelings, courageous decisions. But these slivers of light ultimately only reveal how thick the night can be when it has no end.
The Vagabonds, Richard Lange, Rivages, 336 pages, €22.50.
© Shores