Mont-Cinère

by Julien Green

Dans la maison qui porte ce nom de cendres éteintes, Mont-Cinère, la jeune Emily est élevée dans le froid. Sa mère, par peur de manquer, rogne sur tout dans la grande propriété qui devait être superbe en des jours plus anciens. Les cheminées n'abritent plus que de faibles feux de sarments et les sentiments sont à l'image des pièces que la passion de faire argent de tout vide peu à peu. Et la vie s'écoule. La mère thésaurise pour accumuler en banque une fortune morte; la grand-mère, prodigue en apparence, mais du bien des autres, a l'avarice du coeur et ramène tout à elle-même.

Cette soif de possession matérielle finit par faire de ses hôtes des possédés. L'avarice devient contagieuse comme une maladie honteuse. L'amour ne figure qu'au nombre de ce qui peut rapporter quelque chose. Si bien que, devenue à son tour la maîtresse de Mont-Cinère, Emily, dans la crainte de voir la maison lui échapper, la livrera aux flammes. Sa vengeance aura pris les couleurs du feu absent dont son enfance avait rêvé.

Genres: Fiction, France, Classics

246 pages, Poche

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Julien Green was an American writer, who authored several novels, including Léviathan and Each in His Own Darkness. He wrote primarily in French.

Reviews

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is only Julien Green's first novel, and it anticipates his much better gothic novels like Midnight. His strength is always physical description, and he benefits from short book-lengths and non-dramatic plots. The Other Sleep is probably his best (at least of the few novels of his I've read; the diaries are excellent).

[Eileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

After my recent run of really good obscure books picked off the library shelves semirandomly, this was a shock. WOW. If you want a melodramatic Victorian novel about literal misers living in personal conflict in immediately post-civil war Savannah, miserable yet totally unable to change their situations in any marginally reasonable way, going through a jagged, poorly paced story while supported by a random cast that isn't even developed to the point of stereotype, HERE IT IS. The book's only strength is a small amount of good description, centering on physical and emotional revulsion in the main character, Emily. This doesn't make up for any of the other problems, though.

[Dominick Bartkewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't prefer today's fiction. This novel is exactly what I love.Excellent writing ,characters who argue and dislike one another,and the constant bleakness.Julien green is a fiction lover's dream come true.

[J. Clayton Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Combine Balzac at his most Gothic with a touch of Faulkner (at his least Gothic)and the result is this. Julien Green was born of American parents in Paris, and was (of all things) elected to the Academie Francaise. I think this book was originally written in French. In any event, I found this book totally absorbing. Having just looked up Green on Wikipedia, I learn that he wrote something called the Dixie trilogy. If it's as good as this, I can't wait to read it.

[Johan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haunting, depressing! Glad to finish it and move to a lighter and better world.

[MaelleMaud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prenant. Poignant. Belle écriture: simple et précise. Efficace.

[Isabelle Petiet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une oeuvre passionnante d'une grande qualité.

[Manuel Taboada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continúo la lectura de un pequeño volumen de obras de Julien Green con este Mont-Cinère. Como en la anterior Leviathan, el autor sigue la sórdida vida de un puñado de almas que se debaten (o no) con sus bajas pasiones. En este caso, sin embargo, no se busca un remedio a la infelicidad en una idealizada, pero no por ello ideal relación amorosa. Los principales personajes parecen haber identificado dicha felicidad con la posesión material. Es un libro que habla fundamentalmente la avaricia, que no es más que otra forma de amor desordenado. La verdadera protagonista es una muchacha de dieciséis años, que vive con su madre y su abuela en Mont-Cinère, la casa familiar heredara del padre ya fallecido. A través de esos seres que nunca han recibido amor, desorientados o aferrados a manías enfermizas, Green con su magnífica prosa (esa que obliga a segur y seguir leyendo) nos revela de nuevo los fatales hallazgos que realizan las almas que buscan la felicidad allí donde nunca puede estar.

[Jon Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim and poignant in a way that is seemingly Green's own. Whereas I couldn't say it's among my favorite of his novels, this did hold my attention fully and built up to a surprising climax. So many unpleasant characters described within, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone with much faith in human nature.

[Andrea Turchet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final is awful but in general this is a good book.

[LAILA · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was on holiday, my cousin recieved a box full of french novels, and I picked this one thinking it would be a ghost story of some sort. It wasn't, but that didn't matter.

I read this novel in French so I could practise it and learn new words. It was a lovely story, to which I told about to my parents on our day out. I couldn't believe Emily burnt the house, after wanting its full ownership for such a long time. I understood the reason though -that being that she didn't want Frank or his daughter to take what was rightfully hers.

I was sad, that Mrs Fletcher never came to speak to her daughter again, despite their bitter relationship. However, she was a cold hearted lady, who only cared for herself. Ironically, Emily grew up to be just like her mother, and instead of selling the property like her mother had wanted, she ended up burning it.