Here are a few examples of his works:
When I Was A Work Of Art - Summary
Who has never dreamed of becoming an object? Or even, an object of admiration? Such is the pact that binds an eccentric artist to a young man on the edge of despair. The artist, hungering after scandal, offers to turn the young man, who is hungering after life, into a work of art. After all, there is nothing to lose... except one's freedom."
The Alternative Hypothesis - Summary
On the 8th October 1909, Adolf Hitler was refused entry to the Fine Art Academy in Vienna. What would have happened if the jury had decided otherwise and accepted him? That decision would have changed the course of a life, the life of a timid, empassioned youth, the life of Adolf Hitler. But it would also have changed the course of the world.
The Gospel according to Pilate - Summary
In the Garden of the Mount of Olives, a man waits for soldiers to come and arrest him and take him to be executed. What supernatural power has turned this carpenter's son into an agitator and a worker of miracles who preaches love and forgiveness? Three days later, on Passover morning, Pilate heads a truly bizarre police investigation: the body of Nazareth's wizard, whom he allowed to be put to death, has vanished.
Milarepa - Summary
First chapter of the Cycle de l'invisible
Every night, Simon has a recurring dream to which a mysterious woman will give him the key: he dreams that he is the reincarnation of Milarepa's uncle, the famous eleventh-century Tibetan hermit who bore his nephew an implacable hatred. In order to escape from these endless cycles of reincarnation, Simon must tell the story of both Milarepa and his uncle, identifying himself with them to the point where his identity merges with theirs. But where do dreams begin and reality end? In this play, which is both soliloquy and fairy-tale in the spirit of Tibetan Buddhism, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt reflects on one of his favourite philosophical themes: does reality exist beyond what we perceive?
M. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Coran - Summary
Second part of the 'cycle de l'invisible"
Paris in the 1960s. Momo, a twelve-year- old Jewish boy, befriends the old Arabic grocer living on Blue Street.
But appearances can be deceptive: Mister Ibrahim is not Arabic, Blue Street is not blue, and maybe the lad is not Jewish...
Oscar And The Lady In Pink - Summary
Third chapter of the Cycle de l'Invisible
These are the letters of a boy of ten addressed to God. They are found by 'Mamie Rose', the Lady in Pink of the title, who visits him in hospital in the pink uniform worn by nurses on the children's ward. The letters describe twelve days in the life of Oscar and are filled with funny, moving characters. These twelve days may be his last, but thanks to Mamie Rose, who forms a close and affectionate bond with Oscar, they are to become legendary.
Noah's Child - Summary
Fourth Chapter of the Cycle de l'invisible
1942. The Jews are being deported.
Seven-year-old Joseph is obliged to go into hiding. He learns not to talk about his background or his feelings or even mention his name. In the relative safety of a Catholic boarding school, he grows up in the care of Father Pons, a simple man who makes it his business to keep Jewish culture alive and pass it on to these rescued children so that they might never lose their identity. In the crypt beneath his church, Father Pons has reconstructed a secret synagogue where he studies the Torah, the Kabbala and rabbinic texts in the watches of the night. Here, too, he houses his collection of religious objects
The sect of the Egoists - Summary
Is life all a dream? Are the clouds, birds and other men nothing but our own visions? Could it be that we ourselves are God? Gaspard Languenhaert, an eccentric eighteenth-century philosopher expounded his principle of 'selfishness' in the Paris salons and even founded a school in Montmartre. Here he taught his disciples that the world was nothing but the product of their own fantasies and that they were the only reality.
Two centuries later, a researcher chances upon Languenhaert and is so intrigued that he abandons his earlier work to follow this suspiciously elusive trail. His research takes him from Paris to Amsterdam, but above all it leads him to the depths of his own consciousness and the limits of rational experience where the mind reels nightmarishly on the brink of insanity.
Who better to tackle a story of logic turned upside down than Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, winner of two Molières for his latest play The Visitor currently being performed all over the world? From this bold and talented playwright now comes a beautifully told novel of astonishing modernity.
