Book review: La Mare au Diable by George Sand

What I like more than a book with natural-flowing narrative and 'panache' is one written by an author with a colourful life.

Surprise surprise, George Sand is the name adopted by Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, as you can guess, a woman. Any professional field before the 20th century was an uncharted and definitely unconventional territory for women so I am always intrigued to read and compare works by female authors during the 1800s and before. George Sand also ticks the box as she lived between 1804-1876.

In many ways, I associate her with Colette, another French female writer I admire and from whose oeuvre I've read 'Le ble en herbe'; they both had quite rebellious lives in terms of going against societal norms and in many ways their works tackled issues such as the role of women, sex and etiquette. However, she's much more gutsy than Jane Austen so I guess one could argue that women's voices in literature (and not only) was getting louder by the decade.

George Sand had numerous love affairs, including one with famous musician Chopin, and wore trousers and smoked cigarettes... how fabulously modern of her! No doubt though she acquired many enemies along the way and I would think their perception of her as a person took over her professional merits, especially when Flaubert said that 'Comme femme, elle inspire le degout; comme homme, il donne l'envie de rire' (As a woman, she suggests distaste; as a man, he makes us burst with laughter).

'La Mare au Diable' is considered her best work by many and is definitely one of the best known and I was recommended it as a similar read from the point of view of the narrative style with Guy de Maupassant which I still love to this day. The odds were promising and I certainly wasn't let down.

Although the start is a bit slow, I appreciated the introduction and how at the beginning, Sand addresses the reader directly. The story all starts from a Holbein etching of land workers and throughout the book, values such as honesty, hard work and humility are highly praised. Again, I love me some social commentary.

The narrative is pretty simple and spans over 2 days, mapping the development of the relationship between Germain, a 28 year old widowed farmer, and la petite Marie, a 16 year old girl. Along the way, you'll meet archaic language -which I found fascinating in French-, legends, snobbery and inner turmoil, all of which make for a great plot when combined with Sand's sharp storytelling.

There were two episodes that really stood out for me, so much so that I had to use my highlighter on them :

'L'art n'est pas une etude de la realite positive; c'est une recherche de la verite ideale'
'Art is not a study of an optimistic reality but a quest for the ideal truth'

'[...] elle ne se sent pas pressee de devenir la servante d'un homme, quand elle peut comander a plusieurs. Ainsi, tant que le jeu lui plaira, elle peut se divertir'
'she doesn't feel the need to become the servant of a man when she can be in control of many others. And after all, as long as the game amuses her, she can have some fun'

Book review: 'Mes departs' by Panait Istrati

Whilst I was in Bucharest a few weeks back and perusing through one of the best international bookshops 'Carturesti', I found this gem of a book. Since I am Romanian and looking to apply for modern languages (French and Italian) at uni, this book ticked all the right boxes:

• by a Romanian author
• written in French
• about travelling
• set at the end of the 19th century

It's a short 150 page extract from travel diaries of Istrati, who was born in Braila, a fishing town in Romania, into a poor family. He was of Greek descent from his father's side but he was killed for smuggling so he was mainly raised by his mother. 

The book starts with his somewhat blurred school days which are described both as inspirational and as horrendous, with him being beaten and all these other myths about what the education system used to be like. Personally, I thought they were just legends that get passed down by generations but apparently, it happened. Moving on, he describes loving literature and being even more enamoured with languages and words. Having dropped out of elementary school he gets a really bad job at a local bar/restaurant that we'd call 'bodega' in Romanian. Look it up if you're a linguist yourself . :)

It's there that he learns his first life lessons and then embarks on a sea voyage to Naples in Italy, France being his ultimate destination. He's very much the spontaneous character and finds his way in difficult situations but I thoroughly enjoyed the 'adventure' aspect of the book once he leaves Romania in search of...well, I don't think he knew very well either what that something was, but perhaps the desire itself for new and fresh and exciting is enough.

He also seems to have quite the obsession for the Danube, the river that springs in the Black Forrest in Germany and flows in Romania's Black Sea. I really think water characterises this book very well in a weird way. It's has it's moments of calm and those of rapid change. It can be 'shallow' in the sense of simple narrative but also very deep when thinking about God and destiny.

Off course the fact that the story is set in Romania and the writer and characters share a love of France and languages made this an enjoyable read, but there are definitely aspects that make it a universal book. I'd also recommend reading 'Kira Khiralina' by the same author since it's his best known piece. I might purchase it after I'm done with the stack I'm currently going through!

Book review: Christian Bobin's 'Un assassin blanc comme neige'

When I was in Metz a few months ago, a trip to the bookshop resulted in a slight shopping spree as to be expected. I picked up this title without knowing what to expect, intrigued by the cover, the title and to be quite honest, the large fonts inside. 

It's not an easy read. While it's quite short, the book is like poetry in prose form. The imagery described is so profound and has such symbolism that you have to read it twice or thrice to feel like you have understood its meaning. 

That being said, there is no story. At first, it seemed like a diary of crumbles of life that had an impact on the writer. However, as you read on, it seems more like a collection of thoughts and ideas, some contained in only one sentence. 

It's trully beautiful though and I felt so much satisfaction when I found some of my own thoughts printed in black and white in beautiful french, thoughts I maybe wouldn't have been as brave as to formulate even in my mind but they are universal truths that we either don't see or don't know how to express. 

I'll leave you with a few extracts that have really impressed me, so you can get a feel of the book:

'La modernite est une guerre menee contre la vie dont l'issue ne fait aucun doute: les ames sont trop anciennes pour pouvoir mourir un jour.'

'Modernity is a battle against life whose outcome is uncontestable: souls are too old to be able to die in one day.'

'En une seconde je sais ce que pourrait connaintre un lievre qui - pousse par cette panique qui arrondit toujours ses yeux - traverserait sans s'y arreter cette jungle odorante : il ne prendrait conscience qu'apres en etre sorti d'avoir ete au paradis des lievres.'

'In one second, I can know what a rabbit will feel when, driven by the panic that always dilates its' eyes, it will have crossed this perfumed jungle without stopping: it is only after it left that it will be aware of having been in the rabbits' paradise.' 

'Il y a sans doute quelque part dans le ciel un cimetiere des nuages. Comme ses tombes doivent etre merveilleuses!'

'No doubt there is a cemetery for clouds somewhere in the skies. How magnificent must their tombs be!'