Summary of The Sermon on the Fall of Rome
Mathieu and his friend Libero abandon their studies in Paris to run a bar in a Corsican village. Mathieu’s grandfather lives in this village, after having spent 20 years in Africa in the French colonial administration. The bar becomes the heart of village life, largely thanks to the four waitresses. Meanwhile, Mathieu’s sister, an archaeologist excavating the Saint Augustine cathedral in Hippo (modern-day Annaba in Algeria), strongly disapproves of her brother’s decision to abandon his studies and move to Corsica.
Reasons to read The Sermon on the Fall of Rome
“The Sermon on the Fall of Rome” is not a novel about Rome but about the disintegration of French colonialism and the decline of traditional community life in Corsica. The novel’s title is inspired by “The City of God” by Saint Augustine. The author of the novel, Jérôme Ferrari, draws parallels between the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in the 5th century and the collapse of the French colonial empire in the 20th century. Ferrari is a celebrated French author who won the Prix Goncourt in 2012 for this novel. Other recommended books by Ferrari include “Where I left My Soul” and “In his Own Image”.
Setting: Corsica (France)
Original title: Le sermon sur la chute de Rome
Year of publication: 2012
Nr of pages: 187
