for some reason) by Gabriel Chevallier. I have been reading it in old Penguin edition that was my father's. Why I have been reading this so slowly, I do not know. However, one reason is that if for some reason became a bathroom book, for which my New Yorker usually takes precedence. More pertinent to this exercise is that the novel deals with the ramifications over plans to install a new urinal in the village square of the small French town of Clochemerle (based on the real village of Vaux- en-Beaujolais).[I do need to put in an aside. Clochemerte is certainly not well known in the United States or, even in France if you believe this blogger. However, it is an entertaining read, and there was what appears to be a fairly memorable 1972 BBC production, which I am looking forward to watching. It could be worth its own essay at some point.]Among other books that I have read during the long reading of this book was Sanitary Centennial: And Selected Short Stories (Texas Pan American Series)
by the Argentinian Fernando Sorrentino. A collection of shorter fiction, the title piece is a novella about an advertising copywriter who is assigned to write stirring hype trumpeting a toilet manufacturer's centennial. Thus, the connection--bathroom facilities.Curious to know if anyone else has connected these two books and, if so, whether there are others that I should be reading in this "genre" of bathroom fiction, I began my Google search for "sanitary centennial" and clochemerle and, behold, ZERO hits! Enough to get the internet wanderlust moving!!
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