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Vi è un elemento comune nei protagonisti dei diciannove racconti che compongono questo libro di Francois Sagan ed è quello di essere colti in un momento particolare della loro vita in cui il loro destino è in bilico e dipende dalla loro scelta mutarlo o meno. Come affronterà la situazione un uomo innamorato di sua moglie che si rende conto che lei ha un amante e parte per una battuta di caccia con lui? Avrà il coraggio di mutare lo stato delle cose? e la donna che ha già vissuto bene e si rende conto di provare sentimenti per il suo gigolò? o quell'altra donna che ritorna inaspettatamente dal fine settimana e trova la prova inconfutabile di una storia tra suo marito e qualcun altro ... Ognuno di questi fermo immagine della vita dei protagonisti riflette una situazione crudele o insolita, comunque imprevista e i finali non sono mai ciò che immaginiamo. La vivacità dello spirito e la leggerezza del tono dell'autore ci sorprenderà a sorridere senza pietà di fronte alle situazioni shockanti dei personaggi.
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
19 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Françoise Sagan
167 books1,683 followersBorn Françoise Quoirez, Sagan grew up in a French Catholic, bourgeois family. She was an independent thinker and avid reader as a young girl, and upon failing her examinations for continuing at the Sorbonne, she became a writer.
She went to her family's home in the south of France and wrote her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, at age 18. She submitted it to Editions Juillard in January 1954 and it was published that March. Later that year, She won the Prix des Critiques for Bonjour Tristesse.
She chose "Sagan" as her pen name because she liked the sound of it and also liked the reference to the Prince and Princesse de Sagan, 19th century Parisians, who are said to be the basis of some of Marcel Proust's characters.
She was known for her love of drinking, gambling, and fast driving. Her habit of driving fast was moderated after a serious car accident in 1957 involving her Aston Martin while she was living in Milly, France.
Sagan was twice married and divorced, and subsequently maintained several long-term lesbian relationships. First married in 1958 to Guy Schoeller, a publisher, they divorced in 1960, and she was then married to Robert James Westhoff, an American ceramicist and sculptor, from 1962 to 63. She had one son, Denis, from her second marriage.
She won the Prix de Monaco in 1984 in recognition of all of her work.
She went to her family's home in the south of France and wrote her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, at age 18. She submitted it to Editions Juillard in January 1954 and it was published that March. Later that year, She won the Prix des Critiques for Bonjour Tristesse.
She chose "Sagan" as her pen name because she liked the sound of it and also liked the reference to the Prince and Princesse de Sagan, 19th century Parisians, who are said to be the basis of some of Marcel Proust's characters.
She was known for her love of drinking, gambling, and fast driving. Her habit of driving fast was moderated after a serious car accident in 1957 involving her Aston Martin while she was living in Milly, France.
Sagan was twice married and divorced, and subsequently maintained several long-term lesbian relationships. First married in 1958 to Guy Schoeller, a publisher, they divorced in 1960, and she was then married to Robert James Westhoff, an American ceramicist and sculptor, from 1962 to 63. She had one son, Denis, from her second marriage.
She won the Prix de Monaco in 1984 in recognition of all of her work.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 27, 2023
Not since W. Somerset Maugham has a writer given me such pleasure. Sagan's stories may be shorter. Eighteen of them fit into 137 pages. Yet, each one is a world in itself.
Unless the rich, the south of France, hunting parties, and gigolos are your daily norm, there is escapism on every page. But as with the expat lives in Maugham's short stories, the reality behind all that gloss will make you happy to return home again.
Like all good writers, Sagan reminds us what matters. It's not our income, an address or label on our clothes. How we conduct our lives is what makes us who we are. And fragility, like strength, is common to us all. Her skill as a writer is that I cared about her characters. An unlikely bunch to draw on my heartstrings as I could have ever imagined.
Unless the rich, the south of France, hunting parties, and gigolos are your daily norm, there is escapism on every page. But as with the expat lives in Maugham's short stories, the reality behind all that gloss will make you happy to return home again.
Like all good writers, Sagan reminds us what matters. It's not our income, an address or label on our clothes. How we conduct our lives is what makes us who we are. And fragility, like strength, is common to us all. Her skill as a writer is that I cared about her characters. An unlikely bunch to draw on my heartstrings as I could have ever imagined.
May 31, 2019
For most people, Françoise Sagan will always be remembered for her 1954 novel Bonjour Tristesse. A work that gained her international recognition. It's shame after that success that most of her other written works got somewhat overlooked. Even I was surprised to discover just how many other novels she wrote in her lifetime, plus she also wrote in the short story format.
Silken Eyes: And Other Stories is a collection of eighteen stories in under two-hundred pages, so it goes without saying that most are on the very short side, apart from about three or four of them. They take place in countries such as France, Britain, Germany, and America, and do generally follow the same path of love gone bad. Most were harsh and chilly, so no sugary or soppy tales here. Her writing was impressive in parts and average in others. The opener: Silken eyes, one of the longest, sets the scene for what is to follow. Other stories I liked were 'The Gigolo' 'A Stylish Death' 'The Left Eyelid' and 'Italian Skies'. The very short stories didn't really sink in, so on the whole three stars is about right.
Silken Eyes: And Other Stories is a collection of eighteen stories in under two-hundred pages, so it goes without saying that most are on the very short side, apart from about three or four of them. They take place in countries such as France, Britain, Germany, and America, and do generally follow the same path of love gone bad. Most were harsh and chilly, so no sugary or soppy tales here. Her writing was impressive in parts and average in others. The opener: Silken eyes, one of the longest, sets the scene for what is to follow. Other stories I liked were 'The Gigolo' 'A Stylish Death' 'The Left Eyelid' and 'Italian Skies'. The very short stories didn't really sink in, so on the whole three stars is about right.
September 18, 2015
Handsomely written from the era of 1975. Especially touched with stories that shows ordinary scenes from everyday lives. A clipped scene from our lives, if written by someone like Sagan, could be a masterpiece.
September 1, 2017
Françoise Sagan’s novels have often been belittled by supposedly serious (and mostly male) critics, but they’ve actually stood the test of time despite the predictions of those snubbers, and her best books remain literary gems that auscultate with style, elegance, and an acute sense of observation, the shallowness and emotional chaos of France’s bourgeois society as it enjoys new found freedom after WWII. "Des yeux de soie" (which means “Silk Eyes”) is a collection of stories. Almost all of them deal with breakups – there is actual breaking up, the possibility of breaking up, the dreaming of breaking up, the aftermath of breaking up (or of not breaking up). If those stories are uneven – some are a bit sloppily written, why others shine with psychological intelligence and a refined style – they are all extremely entertaining, and they all dissect beautiful creatures of high society as if they were pathetic insects, with a sense of cruelty and a welcome dose of humor that give real power to tales where not necessarily much happens. Sagan has a deep understanding of this privileged world she writes about, and if she somehow has some compassion for it – and especially for its women – she’s too well aware of its faults and its moral void to be sentimental about it. Yet, she never becomes moralizing – which would be a terrible bore – and she doesn’t condemn her characters for what they do or don’t do. She just looks at them with a mixture of amusement, tenderness, and graceful savagery, the same way she actually looked at herself in real life. Farce and tragedy are never far apart, in Sagan’s world. The distinction is sometimes blurry. Many of Sagan’s stories find a perfect balance between these two angles, and that gives this collection much more depth and emotional truth than one could have expected.
September 18, 2019
I really loved this stories. They are sharp, sad, entertaining, smart and I also enjoyed the writing. Sagan writes about human relationships, mostly romantic ones (or actually not so often really romantic) in a bittersweet way and she only needs a few pages to make the point. These stories can sometimes blur into each other a bit, because of the main topic she writes about, but I was never bored by that. Only with two stories of nineteen I couldn't really figure out why they had found there way into this collection.
This is my third book by this author, I rated two of her novels with four stars before, so I will definitely read more of her work.
This is my third book by this author, I rated two of her novels with four stars before, so I will definitely read more of her work.
March 29, 2025
"Razonamiento lógico, ya que había tenido una vida agitada; y es que toda vida agitada sueña con calma, con infancia y con rododendros, lo mismo que toda vida tranquila sueña con vodka, con músicas ruidosas y con perversidad."
April 10, 2025
2.5/5
had to log the original book instead of the Arabic version I have because it's not available on goodreads
had to log the original book instead of the Arabic version I have because it's not available on goodreads
September 18, 2021
A good mix of stories. Simple, straightforward. At points I felt I was heading towards to falling out of love with her as an author. But why go from infatuation to disrepute? There are some nice redeeming features here. It made for enjoyable light reading on the train - and allowed me to reflect on and put into perspective challenges within my own relationships.
There were at least two stories about people on their way to break up with their lover, only to reverse course at the last minute. There were a fair number of stories that spoke to the prison of living one's life according to social expectation. These themes she handled relatively well.
Yet in her books she manages to tease out more philosophical complications and depth on questions of interpersonal relations: specifically individual selfishness and collective expectations and their consequences. In longer format, her ideas have more space to breathe and she has time to tease out the complexity and nuance while building up narrative tension. In her longer stories the sense of drama is earned and credible. In these shorter pieces it can lean more into feeling like a trick, or lack moral weight or seriousness.
I think there are three stories where she tackles the subject of death head-on, and a number of others where it is worked in. Also included are more than a couple where she takes on otherwise successful if superficial people having moments of emotional crises at midlife, crises that they themselves cannot understand or explain to themselves. These were less well handled for the reasons above, and the intended punches just didn't land.
Finally, I can't say I agree with her obsession with upper class European types. I am quite frankly tired of cultural products about the lives of rich people, as if nobody else is worthy of having their story told.
--
Highlights:
"It was strange, when you came to think of it, how all those men who had loved her so much, who had all been so proud of her and so jealous, had never, in the end, resented her deserting them; they had all remained her friends. She congratulated herself on this, but it may have been that, at heart, they had all felt a certain relief at no longer having to share her perpetual state of indecision. As Arthur Connolly, one of her richest lovers, used to say: 'one could no more leave Letitia than she could leave you.'" Page 84, The Left Eyelid
"It was always the men who didn't attract her in the least who had pointed out the prominence of the Mount of Venus in her palm, and hence her sensuality. It was always the men who bored her who had told her how amusing she was, and, saddest of all, it was always the men she had loved who had told her how selfish she was." Page 87, The Left Eyelid
There were at least two stories about people on their way to break up with their lover, only to reverse course at the last minute. There were a fair number of stories that spoke to the prison of living one's life according to social expectation. These themes she handled relatively well.
Yet in her books she manages to tease out more philosophical complications and depth on questions of interpersonal relations: specifically individual selfishness and collective expectations and their consequences. In longer format, her ideas have more space to breathe and she has time to tease out the complexity and nuance while building up narrative tension. In her longer stories the sense of drama is earned and credible. In these shorter pieces it can lean more into feeling like a trick, or lack moral weight or seriousness.
I think there are three stories where she tackles the subject of death head-on, and a number of others where it is worked in. Also included are more than a couple where she takes on otherwise successful if superficial people having moments of emotional crises at midlife, crises that they themselves cannot understand or explain to themselves. These were less well handled for the reasons above, and the intended punches just didn't land.
Finally, I can't say I agree with her obsession with upper class European types. I am quite frankly tired of cultural products about the lives of rich people, as if nobody else is worthy of having their story told.
--
Highlights:
"It was strange, when you came to think of it, how all those men who had loved her so much, who had all been so proud of her and so jealous, had never, in the end, resented her deserting them; they had all remained her friends. She congratulated herself on this, but it may have been that, at heart, they had all felt a certain relief at no longer having to share her perpetual state of indecision. As Arthur Connolly, one of her richest lovers, used to say: 'one could no more leave Letitia than she could leave you.'" Page 84, The Left Eyelid
"It was always the men who didn't attract her in the least who had pointed out the prominence of the Mount of Venus in her palm, and hence her sensuality. It was always the men who bored her who had told her how amusing she was, and, saddest of all, it was always the men she had loved who had told her how selfish she was." Page 87, The Left Eyelid
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2017
Un recueil de nouvelles de Françoise Sagan, qui vont du sympathique au franchement oubliable. Rien de terriblement passionnant dans l'ensemble.
May 28, 2022
我喜欢萨冈聚聚！她真的好会写傻逼中产=_=傻逼中产的迷茫愚蠢和自以为是，傻逼中产的共性：想要挣脱mundane life去寻找一些能让自己感到活着的体验，但最终大部分人还是会回到自己的中产舒适区继续苟着………萨冈聚聚别骂了，我就是您写的那种傻逼中产T_T
May 2, 2025
In this short story collection, Sagan’s personal style is strikingly distinctive—middle-class men and women who appear lively and outgoing in public, but are inwardly lonely and desolate, yearning to leave a relationship or start anew. Their detachment from relationships often symbolizes a broader sense of giving up on life itself. The themes may sound either superficial or unbearably heavy—an empty rich woman wanting a breakup, a man in midlife crisis discovering his wife’s affair with his friend, a selfish woman choosing to end her life… Yet Sagan’s signature lightness gives these self-destructive characters’ tales of clear-headed decline an unexpectedly readable charm.
This lightness comes from moments of “comic relief”: a socialite accidentally gets locked in a chaotic train’s bathroom while reapplying her makeup; a woman trying to move on from heartbreak rides a horse only to end up repeating the exact fate of her ex-husband; a man mistaken for a homeless person ends up getting everything he wanted… This irony brings a kind of effortless theatricality that aligns with Sagan’s own life philosophy—to live freely and true to one’s nature, even if that means suffering. I believe if Sagan heard today’s internet phrase “the world is just a makeshift troupe,” she’d totally agree.
The one about a woman staring at the pond as if staring at the endless depth of loneliness and the one about the man who gives up shooting the antelope are both excellent. Interestingly, most readers interpret the ending of the antelope story as the female protagonist saying: even if the man had bravely brought back the prey, she still wouldn’t have loved him. But I’d like to offer a more optimistic, warmer reading: his wife’s affair devastated his sense of masculinity, and his disappointment in himself was displaced onto her, which then got redirected into a desire to eliminate his romantic rival, which further transformed into a desire to shoot the antelope. Not killing the antelope may be, at a subconscious level, a sign of lingering forgiveness, understanding, and love for his wife—and an acknowledgment of his own failure. That might be a form of resignation, a “this is who I am, broken and all,” but is it possible that a wife who feels understood might actually fall back in love with this man, who no longer clings to a rigid sense of masculinity? Perhaps what she meant to say was: whether or not you brought back the antelope, I will always love you.
Whether the ending feels despairing or hopeful—the choice is left to the wounded reader, just like cynicism and wild joy are two sides of the same coin named freedom.
This lightness comes from moments of “comic relief”: a socialite accidentally gets locked in a chaotic train’s bathroom while reapplying her makeup; a woman trying to move on from heartbreak rides a horse only to end up repeating the exact fate of her ex-husband; a man mistaken for a homeless person ends up getting everything he wanted… This irony brings a kind of effortless theatricality that aligns with Sagan’s own life philosophy—to live freely and true to one’s nature, even if that means suffering. I believe if Sagan heard today’s internet phrase “the world is just a makeshift troupe,” she’d totally agree.
The one about a woman staring at the pond as if staring at the endless depth of loneliness and the one about the man who gives up shooting the antelope are both excellent. Interestingly, most readers interpret the ending of the antelope story as the female protagonist saying: even if the man had bravely brought back the prey, she still wouldn’t have loved him. But I’d like to offer a more optimistic, warmer reading: his wife’s affair devastated his sense of masculinity, and his disappointment in himself was displaced onto her, which then got redirected into a desire to eliminate his romantic rival, which further transformed into a desire to shoot the antelope. Not killing the antelope may be, at a subconscious level, a sign of lingering forgiveness, understanding, and love for his wife—and an acknowledgment of his own failure. That might be a form of resignation, a “this is who I am, broken and all,” but is it possible that a wife who feels understood might actually fall back in love with this man, who no longer clings to a rigid sense of masculinity? Perhaps what she meant to say was: whether or not you brought back the antelope, I will always love you.
Whether the ending feels despairing or hopeful—the choice is left to the wounded reader, just like cynicism and wild joy are two sides of the same coin named freedom.
February 13, 2026
Françoise Sagan's short stories are revealing. The settings, the people and the props are the same as her novels. A world of the fifties, sixties and seventies jet-set, a world of privilege, pleasure and ennui. The novels shine in the subtlety of the psychological analysis, making even the most absurd-seeming cardboard figures into living people with rich interior lives (I'm thinking of
Le lit défait
for example).
But here all we get is the cardboard cut-outs: the rich, unpleasant people with their ridiculous names and luxury props. A ten-page story simply isn't long enough even for Sagan, with all her intelligence and perspicacity to save the Kurts and the Karls, or the denizens of Dunhill castle (sic) from their paper fates.
I read half of this book and decided to give up. Nasty people come to nasty ends or have unpleasant realisations. You get the picture pretty quickly. I'll come back to Sagan again but not the short stories I suspect.
But here all we get is the cardboard cut-outs: the rich, unpleasant people with their ridiculous names and luxury props. A ten-page story simply isn't long enough even for Sagan, with all her intelligence and perspicacity to save the Kurts and the Karls, or the denizens of Dunhill castle (sic) from their paper fates.
I read half of this book and decided to give up. Nasty people come to nasty ends or have unpleasant realisations. You get the picture pretty quickly. I'll come back to Sagan again but not the short stories I suspect.
June 7, 2025
El libro contiene 19 relatos. El primero, Ojos de seda, trata de la relación de una pareja muy acomodada que sale de caza el fin de semana con otra pareja de amigos. Jerome descubre que su mujer Monika mantiene una relación con su amigo el conquistador Stanislas porque, en un descuido, mientras viajan en el auto éste lleva su mano sobre la mano de Monika, quien ha preferido irse en el asiento de atrás junto al invitado.
Jerome decide matarlo durante la cacería, pero no es capaz. El desenlace queda sintetizado en un gesto sutil que le hace Monika cuando lo tiene de vuelta después de la cacería. Esto hace que Jerome desista de sus planes.
Jerome decide matarlo durante la cacería, pero no es capaz. El desenlace queda sintetizado en un gesto sutil que le hace Monika cuando lo tiene de vuelta después de la cacería. Esto hace que Jerome desista de sus planes.
November 18, 2018
I usually love Sagan. Her language is elegant, soft and viciously cruel all at once.
But I was a little disappointed by this collection of short stories. They all melt into one and the overall impression is of something quite forgettable.
I wouldn't advise starting to read Sagan with this book unless French isn't your native tongue and you're worried you won't have the energy for a full novel. Books like La Laisse and Aimez-vous Brahms are quite short and they are more indicative of her ferocious wit.
But I was a little disappointed by this collection of short stories. They all melt into one and the overall impression is of something quite forgettable.
I wouldn't advise starting to read Sagan with this book unless French isn't your native tongue and you're worried you won't have the energy for a full novel. Books like La Laisse and Aimez-vous Brahms are quite short and they are more indicative of her ferocious wit.
April 21, 2023
J'ai lu sans vraiment écouter.
Il est peu probable que la lecture de cette succession de tout petits récits de gens pas beaucoup plus grands me marque. Je lui prédis la fugacité des récits que l'on imagine en regardant passer les riverains, en leur inventant des histoires (luxueuses et inconséquentes) assis à une terrasse du XVIème arrondissement.
Pour sa défense, je suis persuadée que si je ne travaillais pas dans le luxe, je serais plus réceptive.
Il est peu probable que la lecture de cette succession de tout petits récits de gens pas beaucoup plus grands me marque. Je lui prédis la fugacité des récits que l'on imagine en regardant passer les riverains, en leur inventant des histoires (luxueuses et inconséquentes) assis à une terrasse du XVIème arrondissement.
Pour sa défense, je suis persuadée que si je ne travaillais pas dans le luxe, je serais plus réceptive.
April 12, 2019
第一次阅读萨冈的短篇小说，总体来说是一次非常不错的阅读体验。和从前我阅读过的那些似懂非懂的短篇小说不同，萨冈的小说理解起来并不困难，也无需挖得太深。
《孤独的池塘》，或者说萨冈的大部分小说，都在描写孤独。十几篇故事，给读者展示在生活中的不同瞬间，主人公遭遇孤独的故事。这些孤独脱离不开中产阶级的生活写照，高尔夫，骑马，酒吧，舞蹈，元素重复。这些人的故事交汇成共同的孤独浪潮，把自己的身影淹没其中。但退潮后，有些人浑身湿漉漉地又回到了岸边，有些人随波逐流而去。
其中最喜欢《丝绸般的眼睛》。明暗交织的故事背景，看似是在追寻猎物的男人，其实是在暗暗与第三者和妻子带来的婚姻危机较劲。这个故事里的男主人无疑属于幸运地回到岸边的类型。
但总体来说故事还是重复性太高，换了不同的人名和故事，写的其实是同一名为“孤独”的人的故事。
《孤独的池塘》，或者说萨冈的大部分小说，都在描写孤独。十几篇故事，给读者展示在生活中的不同瞬间，主人公遭遇孤独的故事。这些孤独脱离不开中产阶级的生活写照，高尔夫，骑马，酒吧，舞蹈，元素重复。这些人的故事交汇成共同的孤独浪潮，把自己的身影淹没其中。但退潮后，有些人浑身湿漉漉地又回到了岸边，有些人随波逐流而去。
其中最喜欢《丝绸般的眼睛》。明暗交织的故事背景，看似是在追寻猎物的男人，其实是在暗暗与第三者和妻子带来的婚姻危机较劲。这个故事里的男主人无疑属于幸运地回到岸边的类型。
但总体来说故事还是重复性太高，换了不同的人名和故事，写的其实是同一名为“孤独”的人的故事。
April 10, 2022
Sagan has yet to disappoint. Here she turns her deft, subtle hands to some mostly very short stories. They have already disappeared into book memory heaven but that doesn't mean that while you are immersed in her characters they won't amuse or get you thinking about human foibles.
February 27, 2023
I picked this up having enjoyed Sagan's best known work, Bonjour Tristesse, but this flat, uninteresting collection of short stories really aren't in the same league. A collection of tales filled the one dimensional rich, with rather uninspiring, clumsy twists - almost nothing of interest here tbh
June 17, 2019
I should have known the stories would be a bit too short for me (18 stories in 144 pages?). But my favourites were The Five Diversions, The Left Eyelid and Italian Skies.
March 12, 2020
Doux et poétique, les nouvelles de François Sagan sont à savourer
April 27, 2020
J'apprécie les formats courts. Certaines histoires m’ont fait sourire, mais la plupart sont assez infintile. Enigmatiques et intéressantes au commencement mais assez prévisible.
May 21, 2020
Des yeux de soie
La paupière de gauche
La rupture romaine
L’étang de solitude
La paupière de gauche
La rupture romaine
L’étang de solitude
February 22, 2022
Des nouvelles sur l'âge, la maladie, la mort et l'éternelle recherche de l'amour
March 28, 2022
Die mag sie
June 15, 2023
— o un po' troppo bisbetici, come Kurt. Perciò quella sera lei sbadigliava, e lui la guardò.
«Pensi a Bruno?»
«Pensi a Bruno?»
September 2, 2023
Des nouvelles très courte qui abordent l'amour impossible sous diverses formes.
December 26, 2023
Ik ben weer in de ban van Sagan. 'Tranen in de rode wijn' vond ik goed, maar 'Ogen van zijde' misschien nóg beter. Echt, lees deze vrouw.
April 12, 2024
Merveilleuse découverte
January 6, 2025
中产阶级的苦闷孤独没有谁写得过萨冈
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