Book Description
An elegant translation of one of the most popular novels of its time.
Rousseau's great epistolary novel, Julie, or the New Heloise, has been virtually unavailable in English since 1810. In it, Rousseau reconceptualized the relationship of the individual to the collective and articulated a new moral paradigm. The story follows the fates and smoldering passions of Julie d'Etange and St. Preux, a one-time lover who re-enters Julie's life at the invitation of her unsuspecting husband, M. de Wolmar.
The complex tones of this work made it a commercial success and a continental sensation when it first appeared in 1761, and its embodiment of Rousseau's system of thought, in which feelings and intellect are intertwined, redefined the function and form of fiction for decades. As the characters negotiate a complex maze of passion and virtue, their purity of soul and honest morality reveal, as Rousseau writes in his preface, "the subtleties of heart of which this work is full."
A comprehensive introduction and careful annotations make this novel accessible to contemporary readers, both as an embodiment of Rousseau's philosophy and as a portrayal of the tension and power inherent in domestic life.
Customer Reviews:
A Superb Story.......2003-07-07
It is a pity that Julie, or the New Heloise is neither better known nor more widely read. It is one of the great novels. Rousseau may be most famous as a philosopher and Julie includes many philosophical passages, discussing issues such as education, virtue and religion, but he shows in this novel that he was both a fine writer and an able storyteller. The ideas he puts into the mouths of his characters are interesting, the debates they engage in are continually fascinating, but it is the story he tells which is truly memorable for it is deeply moving.
The novel consists of a series of letters some quite short, some extending to many pages. The main characters are Julie d'Étange, a young Swiss girl of noble birth and her tutor who has the pseudonym St. Preux. They begin an affair and fall deeply in love. It is this initial relationship of pupil to teacher, developing into passion, which is supposed to remind the reader of the medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise. Moreover both pairs of lovers face difficulties and opposition from family. They experience the joys of love and suffer because of it. These parallels however, should not be overestimated, Rousseau is not retelling an old story and Julie's life is quite different from that of Heloise. The story has numerous twists and turns and many surprises along the way. Other characters interact with the young lovers write letters to them and to each other. Gradually over the course of a long novel one begins to care about these people. It is here that Rousseau's skill as a writer is most evident. I found myself emotionally involved in the story of Julie and St. Preux in a way which was quite unexpected. By the end I had felt much joy and not a little sorrow and had been touched by a novel that can bring forth tears.
The epistolary form works very well, and is used cleverly, even if sometimes a letter is so large it could scarcely fit into an envelope. It has to be said however, that this novel is difficult. It has to be read carefully as it continually refers itself back to previous letters, which means that one is constantly re-reading previous passages. Sometimes it is necessary to read a paragraph over again in order to fully understand it. This is not a novel that can be skimmed, but must be savoured and read over a period of weeks. This fact should not discourage anyone from reading Julie, for it is as rewarding as it is challenging. If it is hard, it is also a pleasure.
The edition of Julie published by the University Press of New England is scholarly and a stunning achievement. The translation of Philip Steward and Jean Vaché is the first full translation into English since the 18th century. It reads well and seems both accurate and fluent. There are over seventy pages of notes, which I found both essential for my understanding of the novel and interesting in the way they expand and explain the various obscure references in the text. Stewart writes a relatively short introduction, which is clear and comprehensible. It is neither overly academic nor dry. My only wish is that it were somewhat longer. Spread throughout the novel are twelve beautiful illustrations depicting scenes from the novel. Finally this edition includes a summary of each letter and a chronology of the events in the novel. I found these very useful as a means of finding my way through what can be a dense and complex correspondence. Julie, or the New Heloise is a truly great novel and this edition does it justice.
Average customer rating:
- Ironies of lonely heroism
- Reading on the edge
- A View from the Top of the World
- Maybe I just didn't get it
- Individual Again
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Solo Faces: A Novel
James Salter
Manufacturer: North Point Press
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Salter, James
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ASIN: 0865473218 |
Book Description
This novel exposes the obsession that draws climbers away from civilization to test themselves against the most intimidating and inaccessible mountains in the world.
James Salter captures the adventure of Gary, a roofer of churches, who feels restrained by conventions and flat ground. Unable to find happiness in his life, he travels to southern France to climb to the summits of the Alps. He finds peace and happiness within himself soon after. But when fellow climbers are trapped on the mountain, he makes a daring one-man rescue during a storm that brings him the notice he has always shunned. But the glory quickly dissapates and he returns to the anonymity he prefers, having thoroughly satisfied himself.
Customer Reviews:
Ironies of lonely heroism.......2002-07-31
James Salter's novel tells the story of Rand, a solitary man in his late 20s, with a fatal attraction to mountain climbing. We meet him on a hot, hazy day doing a roofing job on a church in Los Angeles. Quiet, focused, he watches warily the heedless young man working with him and then catches him just in the last moment as he falls from the roof. This same drama plays out again later in the novel, as Rand saves the lives of other mountain climbers, high in the French Alps, in wintry, bone chilling conditions.
One case of heroics makes him a media celebrity, and for a time he is an American in Paris enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. But the time passes, and he returns again to the austere, stoic life of a climber, growing older, with no assets, no home, no one who will love him on his own terms. He has only his desire to continue climbing and the need to take ever greater risks. Emptied of every other need, his lonely heroism is an ironic portrayal of the individual who strives against all odds to achieve impossible goals.
Salter's writing style is crystal clear, always vivid. He tries for no special effects, just a precise choice of words, sentence after sentence, and an unblinking eye for detail. If you have the slightest trepidation about heights, the descriptions of the climbs make your heart race. Master of his matter-of-fact style, Salter moves beyond emotion and the romance of adventure to capture the excitement of being fully in the present moment and intensely alive.
Reading on the edge.......2002-02-28
James Salter is one of America's finest writers, and his skills here match his other books.
Climbing and the inmost soul are Salter's subjects here, and he captures both with unerring eye and literary skills. Because he never overwrites, the casual reader may not fully appreciate the challenges that the author meets so elegantly. God and the devil are in the details, and in climbing (as in flying, about which Salter has written so well) lack of attention to detail can kill in instants. Readers who are also writers will slowly become aware of the fact that Salter never puts a word wrong and never uses more words than are necessary to communicate with the soul. Reading such work is reminiscent of looking at a seemingly simple but beautiful piece of sculpture or mechanical object in which every last detail has been honed to perfection and does its job correctly.
Why does this matter? Because if one reads the current wretched messes masquerading as quality fiction, for example in the NEW YORKER, one gets the sense of being asked to become involved in descriptions of navel lint, or more often of being asked to empathize with silly and unsympathetic people devoid of lives that involve risk.
So what has Salter done with SOLO FACES that transcends the current (02) wrtechedness? He puts us deep in the heart and soul, and makes us care about what these people are doing, and why. The climbing descriptions, despite being low key, will induce in the reader a sense of physical involvement that is (probably) measureable physiologically (heart rate, GSR, etc.). Anyone who wants to climb the Eiger is not sane, but deeply to be respected.
A View from the Top of the World.......2001-10-19
This great book by Salter who has authored many great books may just be his best. The book is about rock climbing. That sport is the most extreme of the extreme sports but also the most solitary and therefore most spiritual and lyrical as it is so often done alone and any mistake is almost certainly a fatal one. The book begins on the top of a church in L.A. where our main character Rand is doing yet another impermanent odd job in an equally impermanent location repairing roofs for a summer, a situation that allows him to retain his most cherished possession, his freedom. And the ultimate expression of that freedom is climbing. Nothing holds Rand for long, no place and no woman, and so very soon in the novel he is off to the Swiss and French Alps, locations of some of the most heralded peaks including the sheer faced obelisks, the Eiger and the Dru. The book is full of climbing lore(including one mountain rescue based in fact) and that great theme of man versus nature as well as the writing style recalls Conrad and Hemingway. Salters sense of adventure as well as his aptitude to tell a story perfectly recalls both authors, but he has his own style and what he does with this adventure tale is completely his own. Salter shows the great romantic appeal of his hero Rand and he also shows the singular nature of such a character and how a life dedicated to legendary feats and life-in-peril daring can leave a man at some remove from others. The minor characters include climbing friends and the various women involved in Rand's love affairs. Though each of them a brief episode only the love episodes are poignant as they more than any other part of the book show how unreachably alone romantic Rand really is. Subtle scenes between men and women who say very little to each other but feel very real is something Salter is especially good at. Very very highly recommended to outdoor enthusiasts and lovers of pristine sentences strung gracefully together and which seem to catch the hard glint of the mountain sun itself. Salter is an author who has only written five novels,one story collection, and a memoir, each one is very much worth your while.
Maybe I just didn't get it.......2001-10-18
I bought this book as I enjoy inspiring adventure books. This novel is more a character study of an isolated climber who becomes somewhat of a legend but continues to struggle with interpersonal relationships.
From a climbing perspective, I found the stories mildly unfulfilling but understand now that that is not the central theme of the novel. But more importantly, I particular found the interpersonal relationships unfulfilling. Starting in Los Angeles where this common worker lived with a woman and her son, initially as a renter and eventually as a lover. Cut quickly to Europe to two significant and unfulfilled relationships although one has long-standing consequences. Back to Santa Barbara for a reunion with a fellow hunter and his wife ending in unsatisfied conflict.
Ok, I'm sure I'll be hammered as not intelligent enough to "get it". But the book did not satisfy my fascination with thrilling rock climbs and it certainly didn't satisfy my desire to watch characters connect in a fulfilling manner.
OK read but not a classic.
Individual Again.......2001-02-13
The first novel I read by Mr. Salter was, "The Hunters", which while deemed a novel was the result of his experiences as a combat pilot in Korea. In, "Solo Faces", he again describes an activity that ultimately is as lonely as being the sole occupant of a fighter aircraft. The primary difference would appear to be that climbing and all the danger involved, no matter how compulsive the desire to do it, is voluntary. It is true that in both instances there is a measure of safety, the climber is roped to another; on belay his safety in the hands of another. In Korea his character would have a wingman that was never to leave him, again was his measure of protection. Climbing partners fall, wingmen get shot down, ultimately the pilot and the climber are alone.
Again he explores the human motivation of those who climb, the less savory aspects of fellow climbers and the horrific results that can occur. The circle is expanded this time as more space is given to the effect the activity has on those who the climber is personally involved with, who cares about his health. Again the pilot was at war, he was not voluntarily flying dozens and dozens of missions. The climber is where he is by choice, so the fear and concern the activities generate may have similar names, but what catalyzes the emotions is fundamentally different.
Mr. Salter's writing is an amazing study of people. He certainly selects an environment that causes a description of what they do and why they do it to be appropriate. For me in these first two novels it is the people you remember more than the circumstances. It is not that the stories lack strength, quite the contrary; his people are just so fascinating.
Book Description
"Michelin The Green Guide French Alps, 2e"
Customer Reviews:
French Travel beyond Paris.......2006-03-24
A very dependable and reliable travel resource. Logical layout and very informative.
Informative.......2004-04-22
I am planning a trip to Annecy, France in the French Alps. This tour book is more detailed than general books on France. It provides websites, small maps, small city maps, driving tours, excellent history of the towns, and recommended sight-seeing.
Average customer rating:
- A mixed but generally entertaining set of stories on French peasant life
- The life and times of the Cocadrille
- Social History as Fiction
- 15 Year Writing Odyssey
- An unsentimental work of great beauty
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Pig Earth
John Berger
Manufacturer: Vintage
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ASIN: 0679737154
Release Date: 1992-10-27 |
Customer Reviews:
A mixed but generally entertaining set of stories on French peasant life.......2007-10-12
In the 1970s the English novelist and art critic John Berger moved to a rural community in the French Alps. Berger wanted to see peasant society firsthad, and to take part in their work as to better understand the challenges they face and the traditions they maintain. While there, he began writing a trilogy called "Into Their Labours" ("Others have laboured and ye are entered into their labours" - John 4:38). PIG EARTH, published in 1979, is the first volume.
While referred to as a novel, it is really a collection of eight short stories and one novella. These share a similar setting but which do not overlap in plot or characters. In between each story Berger has interspersed poems, and at the end of the book he has placed a "Historical Afterword". The short stories here are generally entertaining. Berger in no way romanticizes peasant life. These are not jolly people wearing stainless national costumes and singing about how good life is. Rather, they are draw as people whose lives mix joy and sorrow evenly, and the conditions in which they live--packed in a room with livestock, urinating openly, drinking in abundance, butchering livestock--are straightfowardly presented. While Berger is generally known for his Marxist views, he thankfully injects no inflammatory rhetoric into his fiction. In fact, the one character in the book who calls for communist revolution is an intellectual city boy that the peasants laugh at.
Nonetheless, the novel is in no way flawless. Berger's poetry, free verse reminiscent of Gary Snyder, is unmemorable and could have been left out. The novella which ends the story, "The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol" begins as a story of a dwarf and how her village treats her, but unconvincingly veers off into magical realism. Finaly, his historical afterword, an essay explaining his views on the economy of peasant society, is dull reading after the entertaining stories, and he would have done better to integrate his views better into his fiction.
Nonetheless, if you find peasant societies intriguing--as I do, a linguist who often visits rural areas in Europe for fieldwork--this is a novel worth reading. In spite of my discontent over some portions, I'm going to move ahead to the next volume in the trilogy, Once in Europa.
The life and times of the Cocadrille.......2005-09-15
Amongst the considerable virtues of Berger's,'Pig Earth', is his first transcendant fiction to emerge from his experience of the alpine village in peasant France. This is,'The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol', which has, this year, been reformatted as a stage piece for British Theatre as part of the celebrations for its author's work, in his 78th year. Berger's prose throughout the peasant trilogy('Into Their Labour') is characteristically taut, blunt and weighted with what seems like peasant wisdom. Contrivance, theatricality, are put to one side. Cabrol, a dwarf nicnamed, the Cocadrille, is an eccentric in a community which is forced, against its will to accomodate her. If cruel judgement is mete upon her, she is, by temperament and ingenuity, capable of exacting just revenge. Berger explains that his relocation from the London art world of the 70s, to the rural life, far from slumming with the poor, was to be close to and absorb the other subject of his life's passion, the underclass: ie. to speak with a more authentic voice. Cabrol possesses total dimension. Berger has a tendency, in some stories of this trilogy, to proseletyze in his anxiety to place before us the plight of the disappearing peasant communities. His preface and endpiece, in this sense, are possibly redundant these days.His work has been out there for some time. In the Cabrol piece he speaks from within, with deep compassion, humour, and immediacy. Her third life is one of the most poignant and imaginative pieces in the Berger canon. There was a tele-doc. on the author about the time,'King' was published, which reviewed his public life. Picture Berger ca 1960, back on the B & W BBC box in a white turtle neck, sparring before an old masterpiece with the grey-suited High Priest of the British art establishment, Lord Kenneth Clark. Even then Berger possessed the crouched shoulder, the flurry of gestures, the idefatigable energy to burrow into the cherished notions of the elite. He refused to assume received wisdom. I admire his tenacity, tact, and honesty. His questing keeps him forever young.
Social History as Fiction.......2002-01-23
This book is part of trilogy - Pig Earth, In Europa, Lilac and Flag - depicting the erosion of traditional peasant culture and the incorporation of the children of the peasantry into modern urban life. Taken together, these books comprise a kind of fictionalized sociology of modernization. Each of these books describes a different aspect of this process. The first book, Pig Earth, describes the traditional life of poor French peasants from the Savoy region. Pig Earth is a series of stories and poems showing the seasonal routine of labor, the close relationship of other aspects of peasant life to seasonal labors, and relatively closed nature of these communities. The latter is shown to have both positive and negative aspects, a combination of social solidarity and insularity. The second book, In Europa, is a series of stories showing the penetration of modern industrial civilization into the life of the peasantry and recounts some of the costs, and benefits, of this process. The last book, Lilac and Flag, is set in a mythical city, called Troy, which has aspects of many modern cities. Lilac and Flag describes the life of a young couple, the descendents of poor peasants, who now live a marginal existence in the metropolis of Troy. Overall, this is a successful set of books. Berger is a very talented writer and this set of books gives a vivid sense of the important transition from peasant life on the land to modern industrial civilization. Berger's attempt to depict this important social process is really admirable. The books do vary somewhat in quality. In Europa is probably the best, containing a number of powerful stories, with Pig Earth coming a close second. Lilac and Flag is probably the least effective. The style, presumably a correlate of the urban setting, is distinctly different and the plot has surreal elements. I suspect that Lilac and Flag will strike many readers as relatively familiar and conventional where the contents of Pig Earth and In Europa are relatively novel. If I were to read just one of these books, I would pick In Europa.
It is important to realize that Berger is describing the tail of a process with roots in the Renaissance and that accelerated tremendously in the 19th century. The traditional life described in Pig Earth is actually a life that has been greatly affected by industrial civilization. Many men in the community described by Berger participate in seasonal labor in large cities, there is compulsory primary education, and the local church has a strong influence. Other aspects of the modern world intrude themselves. These include military service, railroads and it is likely that farm products are produced for an international market. In the early or even mid-19th century, a community like this would have been completely geographically isolated, illiterate, and probably would speak a language distinct from French. There are some other fine books devoted to this topic. Eugen Weber's excellent Peasants into Frenchman is a very interesting and readable social history of the impact of the modern world on the French peasantry. A detailed view of French peasant life can be found in Pierre Helias The Horse of Pride, a combined ethnography and memoir about a Breton peasant community written by a scholar who was the son of Breton peasants.
15 Year Writing Odyssey.......2001-04-27
"Pig Earth", by John Berger is the first of 3 books written over a fifteen-year period that taken together form the trilogy, "Into Their Labours". The setting for the first volume is a small village in the French Alps containing a collection of stories about the traditional life of peasants in their village. The books taken together offer a sweeping view of what has happened to this group of people, and as the Author notes, with small changes in detail these stories could be of peasants and their economy anywhere in the world.
The, "economy", of the peasant is the keystone not only of their monetary well being, it also is the foundation that supports their culture, their way of life. It is the means by which they are able to stay away from the cities and there industrialization, the village maintains the individual, the city destroys him or her. This first book shows the life of the Alpine Village intact even as it foreshadows its demise.
There are great ranges of stories that cover daily life, the 24-hour a day commitment that their lives require, and in the end a three-part story that illustrates what will be the downfall of the village. This three-part story is particularly fascinating for the Village disciplines one of its own that they have labeled with a superstitious moniker. When they carry out her isolation from the Village, she adapts, embraces ways different from those who have scorned her, and in the end the destruction of the Alpine Village and its way of life is gone, and those who live there do not yet realize it.
This book is an interesting hybrid that includes poetry interspersed among the traditional prose of a novel. I am not a reader of poetry so the only compliment I can pay this portion of Mr. Berger's work, is that I enjoyed it. He placed and wrote the poems in such a manner that they read without breaking the cadence of the larger work.
This work contains an element that the Author notes is a relic of the Nineteenth Century, even as he mourns the passing of the practice. In a section named, "Historical Afterword", the Author explains his book. What he says about his book I will leave to those who choose to read this man's work. However his Philosophy on what books have become is interesting and very accurate in my estimation as well. Many I know will find what he says offensive as they read that of which he speaks. He talks of how it is assumed that literature has elevated itself into pure art, however he believes it has degenerated into pure entertainment. Of one example he gives, is his feeling that Authors who believe their work of imagination to be all that a reader needs. He finds this attitude insulting to the, "dignity of the reader, the experience communicated, and the writer". He follows this with an essay on his book, which is brilliant, demonstrates the talent of this man not only as a writer but also as a pure thinker. If he had a bookstore I believe I would like it. Of course it would be small and would contain only books worth the time they take to read, and the expense they are to the reader. Some may find this statement arrogant, but for those whom do, I suggest you read his thoughts as many times as it takes to agree with his idea. For all this man advocates is quality work and Authors that respect their readers.
This trilogy took 15 years to accomplish and it has been awarded appropriately. Even while writing this he penned other works that won The Booker Award amongst others. This man is one of the great Authors living today; however if 15 years for three slender volumes seems absurd then try the alternative, alphabet books. A is for atrocious, B is for botched, C is for contrived, through Z is for zero, representing value received.
An unsentimental work of great beauty.......2000-10-29
I approached this book, knowing that John Berger was a Marxist, with the fear that I would be treated to pages of dogma about how the realities of modern capitolism were destroying the pre-industrial arcadia of provincial France. Luckily, he is much more subtle than this. He doesn't rant about the value of the peasant world; he simply gets it across exactly the way it is. I never for a second felt that he was romanticizing the lives of the residents. And while the prose is beautiful, Berger never poeticizes the reality of peasant life - slaughtering animals, finding water pipes, getting goats to breed (notice the decidedly un-romanticized title); he allows us, however, to see why these tasks have their own beauty, their own value.
It is ironic that a book so anchored in realism should have its greatest success with a work of fantasy: the stories that make up The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol are all masterpieces, and allow Pig Earth to be more than just a lovely work of journalism.
The only thing I felt detracted from the coherence and overall quality of the book was the poetry. Berger is a fine poet, but not a great one; he is, however, a great writer of prose. I was generally much more impressed with the stories than the poetry, and didn't think many of the poems were of enough merit to be included.
The sadness one feels at the close of this book is an earned sadness. What I mean by this is that Berger succesfully makes one feel, without saying a single word about it, that it is truly a shame that this world will probably not exist for much longer, that farming will probably done by a few people who will be pushing buttons on machines instead of living the traditional life of a peasant. Obviously, this is inevitable, but this book is a worthwhile reminder that progress comes at a cost, as well as being a wonderful read.
Book Description
Diane Johnson, two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and three-time finalist for the National Book Award, delivers an enchanting and wickedly funny novel about an American abroad and the delicate questions of love, death and money.
When Amy Hawkins, a young dot-com executive from California who has made her fortune at the top of NASDAQ, overhears a pair of elderly and thus much wiser socialites decry the new generation for their incompetence in all things worldly, she sets off for Europe to find culture, her roots, and maybe a cause to devote her considerable fortune to. Amy starts her quest at one of the finest small hotels in the French Alps-a hotel noted for skiing and its famous cooking lessons-in the town of Valmeri.
A few days into her trip, Amy is nearly swept away by an avalanche (started, some say, by low-American warplanes). Two of the hotel's guests, esteemed English publisher Adrian Venn and his much younger American wife, Kerry, were not as fortunate as Amy. Both lie comatose in a nearby hospital. Learning that French and English law dictate a very different division of money depending on where Adrian dies, Adrian's children-young, old, legitimate, and illegitimate-assemble in Valmeri to protect their interests should he not pull through.
Amy, already suspect as an American, finds that her nationality freezes the social climate as she steps in to assist the family. In her innocence, Amy sets in motion a series of events in France and England that spotlight ancient national differences, customs, and laws. Add one or two small affairs that may topple carefully balanced alliances, and soon it is as the French say, a situation.
Hailed as witty, delicious, nuanced and fresh by book critics across the country, Diane Johnson has composed her most amusing and insightful character to date in young Amy Hawkins. A contemporary masterpiece sure to entertain, L'Affaie is a perfectly drawn comedy of manners abroad.
Customer Reviews:
not sure I really liked it.......2006-03-26
As a Francophile, I enjoy stories set in France as well as cultural studies, especially between Americans and the French, but this book missed the mark in a few areas. It began poorly, with badly written, run-on sentences, although her writing style gradually improved. I got into the story well enough and kept reading because I was curious how it was all going to turn out, but I agree that she lost steam in the end. The characters were not altogether likable, including the protagonist, Amy Hawkins, who was too naive and simple in many ways and clueless about relationships. There were random sexual interludes that seemed baseless, with too many characters believing they were in love when it was obviously lust. This was not a group of people I would want to know, and while it was interesting to see their thoughts through Diane Johnson's omniscient point of view, it just made them that much more ridiculous. Perhaps this was a satire, but I don't see how this author has been a repeat finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award! It's entertaining but not nearly as absorbing as I would have hoped. (I bought it at a library book sale and am glad I only paid $4 for it. I would definitely not pay anywhere near the list price for this book and would recommend buying it used.) I would have given it 2.5 stars; when is Amazon going to make that possible???
The Quintessential American Girl Abroad.......2006-02-28
I recommend this book especially if you loved "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann and "The Red and the Black" by Stendhal. If you haven't read "The Magic Mountain", I strongly recommend you read it first. Otherwise you will miss the allusions not to mention half the fun.
When I picked up this book, I was worried that Diane Johnson wouldn't be able to outdo her last book "Le Mariage." It turns out that I was wrong! This book has a much better storyline, and I found the characters all equally strong. It's hard to know whether you should root for Amy Hawkins, Posey Venn, or Kip Canby. But that's Diane Johnson's genius. She has mastered the gentle but sharp satire of Jane Austen. All characters have their faults whether they consciously recognized them or not. For example, Posey is presented as a selfish tart. Yet Johnson makes you have sympathy for her. Life has clearly disappointed her, and her family looks down on her even though she has the most sense. Specifically, this book reminds me of "Mansfield Park" where the heirs are behaving badly because their father is an ineffective patriarch. (The Austen aficionado will undoubtedly know that "Mansfield Park" was modeled after "King Lear", and that Posey is another rebellious daughter.) The basic plot that drives this novel is that the adult children of British publishing magnate Adrian Venn are fighting over a possible inheritance (or lack thereof) while he and his wife are in a coma. The main character, Amy Hawkins, believes in the abstract theory opined by the anarchist Kropotkin: Cooperation is what drives humans to succeed in life. Hilarity ensues while Amy observes (and interferes with) the Venn children acting out various family dramas that seem on the surface to violate the social theory of cooperation. Or does the Venn children show that social cooperation is desperately needed to ensure family survival?
Fourteen-year-old Kip is poor Fanny Price, the outsider; he isn't sure of what to make of the Venn family even though he's thankful that his Uncle Adrian looked after him financially. At the same time Kip is Hans Castorp, the protagonist of "The Magic Mountain." Amy Hawkins is also like Hans because she tries to determine which philosophy works best for life. Should you live your life according to the selfish, sensual world of food and pleasure, or should you choose the cold, selfless Apollonian side of the intellect? This is played out by Amy's romantic choices as well as the larger political differences between the Anglo and the French systems of inheritance and affairs. Is divorce, which Americans and the British advocate, the solution to an affair? Does divorce lead to concomitant damages no family can recover from? Is the French attitude of accepting mistresses and illegitimate children (along with the role of the long suffering wife) a sophisticated view of marriage or a misogynistic one? To start the debate, read this book!
A Page Turner But Not More.......2006-02-16
In L'Affaire, Diane Johnson continues her stories about the foibles of marriage and the interesting dynamic of Anglo-American/French relations.
In this book, a wealthy Englishman and his fairly recent, very young American bride are caught in an avalanche while skiing at an Alpine resort and fall into comas. His child out-of-wedlock, his children from his former marriage, and his relatives from his current marriage have to figure out where to transport him for medical care, with the knowledge that, if he dies, inheritances will be different depending on the country in which he dies. At the same time, the main characters are involved in romances and dramas in their own lives.
Johnson's view of the romance of French affairs is running through, and, strangely, she seems to have the least insight into her American characters (whether they are expats as in previous books or visitors as they are here). They seem to be knowledgeable in areas where they would have no knowledge and to be complete imbeciles in other areas.
However, I read this on the beach on vacation, and it did make for good beach reading. So if you are going to read it for pure fluff, go ahead and buy the book.
best of diane.......2005-12-29
I am mystified by other reviewers' ennui... this was Diane Johnson's best book so far, and she is a welcome writer indeed. In other books she has juxtaposed cultural mores one to one (usually French to American) but here she adds more to the mix, and it's, well, a heady brew. Even my husband, an avowed nonfiction reader and journalist who has little interest in fiction enjoyed this one.
unusual but uneven.......2005-12-18
"L'Affaire" is the story of group of American, British, and French people who meet at a ski resort where the severe injuries of two of their number sets off a series of intrigues, schemes, shifting alliances and, of course, affairs. The novel is uneven in every way: the plot zigzags and meanders; the writing is engaging at times but often falls flat. The characterization, too, is uncertain. Several characters are pivotal to the plot and their voices are all adopted at one point or another in the story, but the main character is only slightly demarcated from them. The impression of the novel is one of unusualness and not complete enjoyability; it is a contentious and troublesome read, rarely engrossing, and even the ending leaves one uncertain what one is expected to take from it. Still, the setting, plot, and most importantly the unique sensibility set it apart from other novels; as with other Diane Johnson novels, while I am not certain I quite like it, I am certain I have rarely read anything quite like it.
Book Description
Enjoy the wonderful summer walking trails found in the Alpine regions of Italy and France. Using this guide and its maps, you can explore beautiful foot paths through mountain meadows and hamlets. Choose routes starting from one of the seventeen base villages selected by the authors for their magnificent mountain locales, charm, availability of public transportation, and accommodations. Rated at one of three levels of ease (gentle, comfortable, and more challenging), each walk takes from two to four hours, excluding 'take in the view' breaks or picnics along the way. Whether you want to know the rules of the trail, what kinds of local hiking maps to purchase, what kind of clothing to wear, or how to get discounts on travel to Europe, this book helps you get the most out of your Alpine walking experience. (5 1/2 X 8 1/2, 238 pages, black-and-white pictures, maps)
Customer Reviews:
Very Useful.......2006-06-28
The descriptions of the walks and of the excursions (presumably car-based) appear very useful; we'll be trying some of them in a few weeks. The book would have been more attractive & useful with more photos, especially color photos, & more maps would also be helpful--but what's there will help a great deal in prioritizing what we do.
best hiking anywhere.......2003-09-28
The Italian dolomites offer the best hiking anywhere. Lost of variety great food reasonable prices and lots of people who speak English. This book gives accurate information, wonderful hotel recommendations and suggests towns I would not have discovered elsewhere. A must for anyone who hikes. The hikes may be easy for some, but it there are lots of more diffucilt options when you get there. We followed the Liptons advice and had a fabulous trip!
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