Françoise Sagan, a provocative French author, became renowned for her incisive explorations of youth, freedom, and societal conventions. Her works often feature an elegant style and a tone that is both cynical and vulnerable, mirroring her own lifestyle. Sagan delved into themes of desire, loneliness, and the complexities of human relationships with a disarming honesty. Her literary legacy lies in her bold depiction of modern life and its inherent paradoxes.
Set in Paris in the mid-1960s, Lucile, a young, rootless woman, finds herself torn between a fifty-year-old businessman and a thirty-year-old hot-blooded, impulsive editor; and, in a companion to the novel, the translator describes the process of rewritin
At eighteen, Françoise Sagan shot to stardom in France with the 1954 publication of her shocking novel Bonjour Tristesse, which explored themes of hedonism and sexual liberation and achieved international success. The young author became a legend and her fast lifestyle a symbol of postwar cynicism. As celebrity gossip columns kept the public informed (and misinformed) about her expensive tastes, changing lovers, and passion for drink and gambling, Sagan continued to write, avoiding the public eye whenever possible. Now, in this collection of interviews prepared by her French publisher, readers are granted the rare opportunity to meet the real woman behind the myth.
Parmi les passagers du Narcissus, Olga Lamouroux, protégée du cinéaste Simon Béjart ; la riche Edma Bautet-Lebrêche et son ennuyeux mari ; Julien Peyrat, commissaire-priseur séduisant ; Éric Lethuillier, directeur de rédaction, et sa timide épouse Clarisse, qui tente en vain de se cacher derrière un maquillage outrancier. Elle est « la femme fardée » qui intrigue autant qu'elle émeut. Alors qu'Éric s'affiche au bras d'Olga, Clarisse s’éprend de Julien. La tension monte et les poses mondaines, insuffisantes à dissimuler les sentiments abjects, deviennent aussi tristes que burlesques.
Published when she was only nineteen, Fran�oise Sagan's astonishing first novel Bonjour Tristessebecame an instant bestseller. It tells the story of C�cile, who leads a carefree life with her widowed father and his young mistresses until, one hot summer on the Riviera, he decides to remarry - with devastating consequences. In A Certain SmileDominique, a young woman bored with her lover, begins an encounter with an older man that unfolds in unexpected and troubling ways. These two acerbically witty and delightfully amoral tales about the nature of love are shimmering masterpieces of cool-headed, brilliant observation.
The very French love affair of fortyish actress Beatrice and somewhat younger playwright Edouard - viewed with occasional (and welcome) irony but, more often, with heavy-breathing ponderings: "Where did the inviolable begin in someone who had already been violated and who could only be violated again and always, in both body and heart?" Edouard is "a kamikaze lover, ardent and suicidal," totally devoted to Beatrice - who likes him in bed, cares for him, but is constantly unfaithful and really passionate only about her career. "She might have been his Destiny, but he obviously wasn't hers." This imbalance of amour, of course, leads to much jealousy, mooning about, leaving in a huff, and sighing - which most American readers will probably find more childish than moving. When Beatrice goes to film on location, Edouard follows; she's obsessed with the filming, so he keeps her attention by pretending to be writing an article about the film for a top U.S. magazine (the book's most comic, most appealing sequence). And when, at long last, Beatrice does say, "I love you," Edouard thinks, "Why didn't it make him feel happier and more triumphant?" Sigh. Strangely enough, Sagan is weakest when dealing with this heart-strung tug-of-war, strongest with the supporting cast from the chi-chi Parisian theater-and-film world - especially an acerbic ex-lover of Beatrice's who is dying of cancer and for whom Beatrice is the only acceptable company during the final days. Many moments of verbal elegance, some flashes of marvelously undercutting dialogue, even a few probes of sub-surface insight. But Beatrice and Edouard - beautiful, petulant, selfish, and soulful - are the stuff of a Sagan short story; ad infinitum, they are mixed company at best. (Kirkus Reviews)
The French Riviera: home to the Beautiful People. And none are more beautiful than Cécile, a precocious seventeen-year-old, and her father Raymond, a vivacious libertine. Charming, decadent and irresponsible, the golden-skinned duo are dedicated to a life of free love, fast cars and hedonistic pleasures. But then, one long, hot summer Raymond decides to marry, and Cécile and her lover Cyril feel compelled to take a hand in his amours, with tragic consequences. Bonjour Tristesse scandalized 1950s France with its portrayal of teenager terrible Cécile, a heroine who rejects conventional notions of love, marriage and responsibility to choose her own sexual freedom.
Translated from French into English by Robert Westhoff
