A Mauriac Reader: Including A Kiss for the Leper, Genetrix, The Desert of Love, The Knot of Vipers, and Woman of the Pharisees

by François Mauriac

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Genres: Religion, France

610 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

François Charles Mauriac was a French writer and a member of the Académie française. He was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life." Mauriac is acknowledged to be one of the greatest Roman Catholic writers of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Ann Olszewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

My interest in this book actually started with Flannery O'Connor. I'd finished her collected short stories, and while I acknowledged her talent, something about her writing left me cold. Horrified, really. I came across a radio program discussing her, and the guest mentioned that she was influenced by several French Catholic writers, including Mauriac. I purchased this volume, originally because I was looking for more insight into O'Connor's thinking. I had little idea that I was being introduced to an artist (a Nobel laureate, actually) who would soon become my favorite writer.

I could quickly see how Mauriac influenced her. His characters are also struggling through the world, struggling against God, creating messes and terrible disasters in their flight from Grace. Yet Grace still catches up with them. But unlike what I see as brutality in O'Connor's work, there's a tenderness to Mauriac that makes him - in my opinion - the greater writer. There's nothing sentimental in his work; rather, it possesses a pulsing humanity.

There are five novels in this volume, but The Knot of Vipers and Woman of the Pharisees are the strongest and most moving. In both stories, someone learns almost too late the errors of their thinking, but finds their way back through Grace. Woman of the Pharisees seems particularly fresh to me, as there are too many people like her today - going through the motions of piety, trampling souls under foot, while never actually loving or knowing God.

My background is Catholic, and I know a lot about the faith while no longer being particularly religious. But Mauriac's work makes me feel a sort of spiritual tingling that I thought was long gone, an intense longing for the transcendent that seems both far away and close at hand. Grace? I've learned it exists.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This "Reader" contains five of Francois Mauiacs books. He won the 1952 Nobel Prize for Literature, the year I was born. After reading all of these books I can see why he received the Nobel Prize that year. I was taken most by his analogies of what is happening within a given character (some emotional challenge and what was going on outside in nature or the city....the sky, storms, flowers, tree, the sound of trains....his descriptions were amazing. The other significant theme in his stories are the psychological insecurities we often have within ourselves but do not share easily with others....here all was revealed, leaving the reader able to understand exactly what his character(s) were experiencing and often knowing we experienced those same feelings. It was the richest book in language that I've read in along time!

[J. Mulrooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mauriac is the great novelist of family members who hate each other.

[Andy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mauriac has become one of my favorite authors. It is puzzling that he seems to have been largely forgotten. I really enjoyed "The Knot of Vipers" and "Woman of the Pharisees."

[Silvina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "Knot of Vipers" the best. It is brilliant and heart-breaking, and full of humanity. The first person narration of events is superb... Women of the Pharisees is my second favorite of the collection. How I never heard of this author before is a mystery...

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the first three out of the five novels. Mauriac has a way of using unrequited passion to reveal the devastation of a life without love.