From the Bookshelf of Reading the 20th Century…

Thérèse Desqueyroux

François Mauriac

Start date: November 1, 2024

Finish date: November 30, 2024

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Nov 24, 2024 Roman Clodia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-the-twentieth-century, women-in-translation

"Don't you have a sense, as I do, of how deeply useless we are? No? Don't you think that the lives of people like us already bear a strong resemblance to death?"

Published in 1927, this must have read originally as more radical, despairing and confrontational than it perhaps does today.

Drawing quite explicitly on Flaubert's seminal Madame Bovary, Mauriac gives us a sort of existentialist heroine struggling to find meaning for herself in a stultifying, claustrophobic provincial setting. Unlik
"Don't you have a sense, as I do, of how deeply useless we are? No? Don't you think that the lives of people like us already bear a strong resemblance to death?"

Published in 1927, this must have read originally as more radical, despairing and confrontational than it perhaps does today.

Drawing quite explicitly on Flaubert's seminal Madame Bovary, Mauriac gives us a sort of existentialist heroine struggling to find meaning for herself in a stultifying, claustrophobic provincial setting. Unlike Emma Bovary, Thérèse poisons not herself but her stolid farmer husband concerned about getting a son and protecting his land for his family line. Unimaginative and unable to ever envisage anything more beyond his rural and bourgeois values - primarily respectability in the eyes of his neighbours - Bernard epitomises a cramped world which pressurises and constrains Thérèse with domesticity, the family and motherhood.

Mauriac's style is formally oppositional contesting nineteenth century modes of narrative: we jump between objective exposition when we are first introduced to the novel, into the head of Thérèse, and between her construction of a confession to memories of her past and into her present. There's a chronological fluidity and a breaking down of barriers between interiority and exteriority that mark Mauriac's modernist approach, and 'plot' is no longer linear or teleological.

Nevertheless, I can't help wondering about the role of women in male authors' engagement with the pressures of bourgeois values and an engagement with issues around domesticity, capitalism and freedom: this book didn't just remind me of Madame Bovary but also Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles - three women who are forced outside of society for breaking its rules. Significantly, in this sense, Thérèse is not figuratively punished as the other two women are - though there is an openness and ambiguity about the ending.

It's interesting that while Mauriac was himself Catholic, his Thérèse is more agnostic, if not quite atheist, looking forward to the works of people like Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir. This anguished portrait of a young woman alienated, a misfit amongst her family, who finds no reprieve in motherhood or erotic love, is set free on a journey to find a sense of selfhood by the end - but where she will end up is left open, enigmatic and unknown. ...more

29 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2013 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, novellas, read-2013, book-and-movie, french-literature, fiction-20th-century

There is a new movie version of this book but I always want to read the book first.

A gift from my brother.

This novel is based on a true story when in May 1905 (thanks Wayne for your important remark about it!), the author attended the trial of the poisoner Mrs. Canaby: L’affaire des Chartrons.

Therese, as well as Madame Bovary in some way, lives in her own world since her husband is not able to understand her feelings. Even with the birth of their daughter, their faith won't change any more.

The ...more

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Oct 03, 2023 Chrissie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: legimus, relationships, swedish-narration, classics, hf, suspense, 2023-read, france, favorites

A French author and classic I will read soon!

I listened to a Swedish translation. Both the narration and the translation were bad. Nevertheless, I never wanted to stop. I listened to each section multiple times because I HAD to understand fully what wa going on!!!!

Only one hint--the treatment of women in times past is a central theme- Few books grab your attention as this one does. You know I rarely give books five stars but I am doing so here.

I will be reading all the books I can get by this Fr ...more

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Nov 23, 2024 Blaine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ugliness in society, beliefs, human relationships, family life and society portrayed so beautifully in language and in plot structure.

The first few chapters confused me, particularly when the narrative shifted from an objective description of Therese's post-acquittal journey home to her interior journey through her life story, searching for the right approach to her husband(view spoiler). But once I understood the shift in time and perspective I appreciated the b ...more

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Nov 30, 2024 Brian E Reynolds rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This is a novella by Nobel Prize winning French author Francois Mauriac, written in 1927. Inspired by actual events of a woman accused of poisoning her husband, the book that Mauriac has written is more of a character study rather than a plot-driven novel. In fact Mauriac went on to write 4 other stories involving Therese.

That’s good because the story is not that entertaining of one, which I found unusual considering the story starts in the aftermath of a very dramatic event. But the dramatic ev ...more

1 like · Like · see review