This is impressive. Whether it could really have been written by an 18 year old I don't know; certainly Radiguet's friend Jean Cocteau must have had aThis is impressive. Whether it could really have been written by an 18 year old I don't know; certainly Radiguet's friend Jean Cocteau must have had a hand in the editing, if not in actually rewriting it. But whatever the case, this is a timeless, potent and moving story the like of which I have rarely read - the kind that seems to level all others in its wake, to say, 'Experimentation is all well and good, but without a strongly-felt core it's nothing.' And if there's one thing this book has it's strong feeling. As to those who maintain the narrator is cruel or a woman-hater, I just don't see it. The guy is 15 when he meets this girl! Any grown man who says he would have acted 'better' in this situation is either a hypocrite or he can't remember what it was like to be 15, or he's never been in love. The point is not that love is selfishness; it's that love (especially to the young) is all-consuming. These two poor self-indulgent kids are sent nearly insane by their situation. To judge them from a standpoint of adult comfort is to not comprehend something crucial about being human. Besides which, I wonder if some readers have not seen beyond the surface of this narrator's ruthless self-criticism. Had he given us the self-righteous reading, would his detractors have been more pleased?
I'm not usually into adventure novels but this is a strange kind of adventure - as much metaphysical as physical, even though its hero is an expert swI'm not usually into adventure novels but this is a strange kind of adventure - as much metaphysical as physical, even though its hero is an expert swordsman (though for proof of this you'd have to see either of the other two Angelo books in English: Angelo - brilliant - or The Straw Man - confused and disappointing but for its one sword-fight, which is jaw-dropping, tear-jerking, astonishing). What makes this work is the character of Angelo - charming, heroic, self-questioning, youthfully self-important yet so aware of this defect that we end up loving him for it. Add to this the southern French countryside, always luminous in Giono but here especially so, as if set off by the sombre frame of the cholera epidemic, and the thrilling, touching relationship between Angelo and the equally appealing Pauline de Theus, and you have one of the most all-consuming reading experiences I have ever encountered. Strange that Giono is so little known in English; this is not difficult writing, and he is a household name in France. Other favourites: Two Riders of the Storm, Song of the World, Angelo.
Jarry! He's almost more important for what he represents - anarchy, the absurd, life as art - than for his writing. To pay him homage is a sly wink inJarry! He's almost more important for what he represents - anarchy, the absurd, life as art - than for his writing. To pay him homage is a sly wink in itself, and plenty of noteworthy 'geniuses' have slyly winked thus. Me, I'll take Ubu Roi (his first play, written while he was in high school, infamous in Paris upon its first performances) over the rest of his oeuvre any day. It's an out-and-out classic: you could substitute Ubu for any half-witted would-be dictator throughout history (my pick is Australia's John Howard) and the play would work just as well. You cut out a little geeky-looking Howard face and put it on a stick puppet and animate the thing - beautiful! As for the rest, it's all as much gesture as it is literature. Pataphysics (the 'science of imaginary solutions'), the list of arcane books on Dr Faustroll's shelves, the fact that Faustroll travels in a sieve that floats on water, the whole idea of the sexed-up 'supermale' - it's all ridiculously brilliant, but alas, not much fun to read at times. Still, just for what he stands for, Jarry - like Johnny Rotten, like Jim Stark, like Tristan Tzara - is an all-time legend, an agitator without an agenda....more
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