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Opéra sérieux
Elina Marsch pousse son premier cri en 1926, au soir d'un opéra dans lequel son père, ténor préféré du compositeur Janacek, vient de triompher. Au moment où la diva, sur scène, chante son ultime note funeste, la mère d'Elina, elle-même soprano, quitte ce monde. L'enfant grandit entre le spectre de la défunte et un père aimant qui collectionne les maîtresses, toutes cantatrices. Bercée par leur chant de sirènes, elle apprendra d'elles l'art de la séduction et tout un répertoire d'airs de folie qui entrent en douloureuse résonance avec les démons qui la hantent, de l'Europe nazie à la voluptueuse et trompeuse Amérique... Dans ce roman virtuose et d'une magnifique intensité, Régine Detambel accorde son écriture au mystère de la voix humaine éternellement frémissante des pulsions de vie ou de mort dont elle délivre le secret.
136 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2014
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 2, 2019
This is the first novel I read from French author Régine Detambel. This book is short, concise, and easy to read within a few hours in one day.
The author invested a great deal of effort and talent to write this novel using a beautiful and poetic prose similar to the great art of Opera singing and stories. The author seems to have opposed the beauty of this classic great art against the darkness of the world, the brutality of people, and evils. It shows that the stories played in Opera are filled with violence, tragedy, and death in direct opposition with the art and other stories much suitable for children. The characters are well developed, but the main flaws comes from the story.
The story wasn't developed as much as it should have been. It was written using a monotonous tone unlike Opera singing by tenors. There was some intrigue about the sudden disappearance of people and animals surrounding Elina Marsch, the leading character, but these intrigues weren't the main story and briefly mentionned.
To summarize, very good prose was used in this book, but the story needs more work to be interesting to read.
The author invested a great deal of effort and talent to write this novel using a beautiful and poetic prose similar to the great art of Opera singing and stories. The author seems to have opposed the beauty of this classic great art against the darkness of the world, the brutality of people, and evils. It shows that the stories played in Opera are filled with violence, tragedy, and death in direct opposition with the art and other stories much suitable for children. The characters are well developed, but the main flaws comes from the story.
The story wasn't developed as much as it should have been. It was written using a monotonous tone unlike Opera singing by tenors. There was some intrigue about the sudden disappearance of people and animals surrounding Elina Marsch, the leading character, but these intrigues weren't the main story and briefly mentionned.
To summarize, very good prose was used in this book, but the story needs more work to be interesting to read.
August 4, 2019
Mixed feelings. First novel from Régine Detambel that I read. Style is good. Starting point of the story seemed interesting. But... i don’t know... something is missing. It remains superficial. The novel is short so couldn’t it have been possible to go a bit deeper for some elements? I don’t know. I am not a novelist.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews