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.
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.
A certain smile: "A young woman bored with her lover, begins an affair with an older man that unfolds in unexpected and troubling ways."--Publisher description.
Translated from French into English by Robert Westhoff
