L'Ogre

by Jacques Chessex

À travers une histoire très concrète, très proche du quotidien, très charnelle, c'est un drame fondamental que traite Jacques Chessex : la mort du père. Mais son roman ne remue pas des idées ; on y sent au contraire passer toutes les rumeurs de la vraie vie.

Jean Calmet approche de la quarantaine. Il est professeur de latin au lycée de Lausanne. Nous le découvrons le jour des obsèques de son père, le Dr Calmet, au crématoire de la ville, par un matin de soleil sur le lac. Va-t-il être, par cette mort, libéré ? L'ombre du disparu va-t-elle au contraire le poursuivre, finissant par pénétrer chaque circonstance de chaque jour du froid et du vertige de la destruction ?

Le Dr Calmet était un " personnage " : tyran familial, force de la nature, porté sur le vin blanc de Lavaux et les servantes d'auberge, troussant à l'occasion la gamine de 20 ans que son fils, adolescent, poursuivait gauchement de sa tendresse et de son désir sans oser la traiter comme elle l'attendait : en fille. Partout, toujours, Jean Calmet a cru sentir l'oeil de son père qui le guettait, son énorme appétit de vie qui rendait dérisoires les scrupules et les inappétences de son fils. Et voilà que, le père mort, son pouvoir mystérieusement s'amplifie, s'aggrave, se fait obsédant. Réduit en cendres, et ses cendres enfermées dans une urne de marbre, le père est toujours là, omniprésent, prêt à continuer de dévorer ses survivants comme il a toujours dévorés ses compagnons de vie. Et ce n'est pas, dans ce combat inégal, la vie qui triomphera...

La force du roman de Jacques Chessex est d'envelopper son histoire d'un réseau de faits vrais, de paysages, d'impressions fugitives ou cruelles. Les amours de Jean Calmet avec une étudiante des Beaux-Arts, la maladie et la mort d'une de ses élèves et la dernière promenade que font avec elle ses camarades de classe, la rencontre, un soir, au bord du chemin, d'un hérisson qui se hâte vers une haie : autant de pages riches, bouleversantes, qui donnent tous les chauds parfums de la vie à ce roman-méditation sur la mort.

Genres: Fiction, France, Suisse, Roman

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Jacques Chessex was a Swiss author and painter.

Born in Payern, Switzerland Chessex is a poet, writer and artist. He is among the most important writers who write in French. In 1973, he received international recognition when he became the first Swiss to win the biggest French literary prize - "Goncourt" for his novel "L'Ogre ". The same model was the first foreigner awarded the prestigious award. In 2004 and received "Goncourt" for poetry.

Jacques Chessex died in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, of a heart attack during a meeting with the readers on October 9, 2009

Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/2232838-...

Reviews

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Der Kinderfresser" ("L'Ogre", English: "A Father's Love") reads like a cross between Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" and Kafka's "The Judgement": a Latin teacher in his forties falls in love with a "cat girl" half his age and is gradually crushed by the powerful presence of his recently deceased father. 

Flashbacks and details play a major role here: the protagonist remembers how his father deflowered his first great love, so it is not surprising that a lonely walking stick in the umbrella stand of a pub becomes his father's larger-than-life privates for him. Death is also present in his memory when he thinks of a cancer-stricken schoolgirl who, weighing only 36 kilograms, looks to him like a tortured woman in "God's Auschwitz".

We accompany Jean Calmet in his everyday life, see how authorities repeatedly bring him to his knees and how he seeks solace with an aged prostitute. At the same time, he discovers that his young lover, the "cat girl", is having an affair with one of his students. However, what is really disturbing is the omnipresent threat posed by his father, who grows before him like a Goyaesque giant, swallows up all light and thereby becomes an oppressive shadow - even in death: he is the "child-eater" who actually devoured Jean a long time ago, so that his existence as an adult is actually a non-existence.

The novel is a study of trauma. In impressive language, it shows what happens when the love that a father should have given his child is expressed solely in a cold demonstration of power: Instead to the sky, the child grows towards the earth, into which it eventually disappears.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chaque chapitre de "L'Ogre" commence avec une citation du livre de Job ce qui laisse prévoir que Dieu mettra fin aux tourments du protagoniste Jean Benjamin Calmet à la fin. Hélas, "Dieu est un salaud" est Jean est un perdant né dont Dieu se lave les mains. Jean va mourir bien malheureux. "L'Ogre" n'est pas une lecture réjouissante.
Jean est un pauvre type tyranisé par son pére. Le roman commence avec la mort du père. Pour s'assurer qu'il ne revient pas, Jean ne l'enterre pas; il l'incère. Cependant, c'est la peine perdu. Jean demeure si tyranisé par son père-ogre qu'il n'est pas capable de bander quand il le veut le plus. Si Dieu est indifférent au sort de Jean la déesse Isis de L'Âne d'or d' Apulée ne l'est pas. Elle arrive dans la forme d'une fille de dix-neuf ans pour susciter son ardeur mais elle ne réussit pas.
Jean qui enseigne le Latin à un gymnase réfléchit aux montres de la littérature classique comme le Minotaur et Chronos qui mangent les enfants. La crise ultime survient quand il accompagne un groupe des étudiants au Kornhausplatz où il voit la statue du Kindlifresserbrunnen en train de manger des enfants. Jean comprend que c'est trop tard et que son cas est sans espoir. Peu après il va mettre fin à ses jours
"L'Ogre" est un roman puissant mais complètement dépourvu d'espoir. Il plaira à ceux qui ont aimé "Le rois des Aulnes" de Michel Tournier.

[Kirk Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books soothe, some enchant, some break: this one goes thundering in my head. It's a product of Camus and Joyce at their best, and while it's a bleak book, it's full of so much picturesque beauty - a painter's book - and a product of so much love - that one hardly knows what to do with it. Perhaps no one has simulated my neurotic brain so well.

[Géraldine · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Prix Goncourt 1973*

Jean professeur dans un gymnase (lycée) à Lausanne, est hanté par son père, un parfait tyran domestique, qui ciblait avec cruauté et joie perverse son plus jeune enfant, le plus sensible, le plus intellectuel et, par là, le moins armé pour le concours professionnel et social. L'homme est par ailleurs un médecin connu, aimé et apprécié, cité en exemple.

Le père est mort, mais l'immédiat soulagement ne dure pas. Jean se débat contre des paroles et des images persistantes de son père, qui l'empêchent d'être lui-même.

Éducation religieuse stricte. Peur et attrait des femmes. Exigence du devoir. Culpabilité lourde toujours présente. Peur de l'échec, peur de la mort. Fonder une famille. Réussir sa vie aux yeux des autres.

Chessex mêle l'introspection à de beaux moments naturalistes et quelques brins mythiques ou fantaisistes, et cela adoucit un peu le récit, comme les moments moins durs de Jean adoucissent sa vie.

Un texte difficile, mais beau, dans lequel un triste enfant maltraité devenu adulte se débat pour survivre à l'ogre.

Bien sûr, JC évoque son propre père.

Je lis ailleurs : magnifique, dévastateur pour le lecteur : oui. Cette sensation de contempler un paysage magnifique (suisse, forcément) avec au loin des sommets de beauté et aux pieds le précipice.

[Ringa Sruogienė · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. It has only now been translated into English but was originally written and published in French in 1973. It is important to realize this spirit of the times because it is strongly reflected in the novel; it is all about old power versus new ideals. Jean Calmet has recently lost his father, an authoritative man and doctor, whom he feared as a child. He thinks he is finally free from this ogre but he couldn't be more wrong. Gradually we see that his father's hold on him increases up to a point where it is literally killing him. Even though Jean constantly claims that his father was a tyrant, it doesn't really show in the book. Ok, in flashbacks the father doesn't strike as a gentle, feeling person, but I've known worse cases. In the meantime, Jean Calmet realizes his own position. He can't beat his father but as a teacher of the young generation, he himself becomes a figure of power. The end is rather tragic and the lonely figure of Jean Calmet will probably stay with me for a long time. This book will not be to everyone's taste but addicts of French existentialism will love this one.

[Ugnė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tėvas net ir miręs persekioja sūnų pačiais negražiausiais būdais. Iš to ir visa impotencija, ir noras pačiam kaip ir tėvui prasidėti su žymiai jaunesnėmis už save.

Vietomis labai nuspėjama, o šiaip gana stereotipiška kokiai psichoanalizei, nes skėčių laikiklis primena tėvo lytinį organą, o jei laižai krūtis, tai čia jau mommy issues.

Veikėjas toks liaušis. Ar taip jau jį visiškai tėvas sunaikino?

Ir ta pabaiga. Žinau, čia skaitinys protingiems, nes minima daug senovės dievų ir deivių, cituojamas Jobas, bet aš gal nebesigilinsiu.

Sunku pamėgti, kai pagrindinis veikėjas visiškai negerbia savęs. Nors bandytų kažką daryti...

[Enno · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very beautifully written book that won the Prix Goncourt in 1973. Although recently deceased, his patriarchal ogre-father continues to haunt Jean Calmet for the rest of his life. Relationships with other people who exert any form of authority make him very uncomfortable as well and Jean is slowly turning into an ogre himself. Apart from authority, the book is also largely about death - from the pain of loved ones dying to the absurdly comical, commercialised way in which the funeral industry approaches it.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un livre intéressant où on sent l'angoisse du personnage principal s'accroître au fil de l'histoire. Ne pas lire si vous êtes déprimé!

[Fatima Sarder · Rating 2 out of 5]

The overwhelming sense of helplessness and feeling of oppression due to having a dictatorial and larger than life paternal figure, is a familiar one. I feel it in my bones. I feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Jean Benjamin Calmet suffers from an emotional crisis regarding the death of his father. The ghostly spirit haunts Jean, keeping him locked in a depression vividly described with a painter's imagination.

For some reason, Jean annoys me. He's a spineless lily-livered coward who should've consulted a therapist instead of wallowing in his (rather wonderfully described) woes and then killing himself.

Not for me, I admit; but the book is breathtaking in it's descriptions.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

[1973, famous for winning The Prix Goncourt]

The sad fall of a Swiss teacher under the weight of the memory/ghost of his recently deceased, oppressive father.
Bit over oedipal at times, but good with its exposé of the hushed up, hidden and lasting psychological abuses of the patriarchal nuclear family (unfortunately only looks at the impact on the youngest son really though).
Some uncomfortable and dubious teacher-student relationships (sixth form and older though, so not like Lolita, but still saturated in power games).
Jean Calmet is also not amazing in his attitude towards female autonomy.
Feels a bit aged in its preoccupations now - post-war baby-boomer generational conflict.
Very similar to Camus' L'Étranger in its existential mood, except Meursault is replaced with the more nervous and anxious Jean Calmet, slightly resembling Joyce's Stephen Daedalus in his struggles to fly away from the weight of the past and paternal constrictions, but with less of Daedalus' oomph - Calmet is a crushed man.
Another book where the lead character is a male literature teacher/professor...
Although set at the end of the 60s, not too much '68 mood in the air, just a more rebellious inflection within the students.
Good writing though. Good description.
Good descriptions of everyday tyrannous characters to be found.
Hitting ending.

'They gathered, they started to walk again through the little streets. The afternoon was turning a sepia gold: in the sky a tint of brown sugar, heavy, a bit soporific. They were about to reach a bridge guarded by obelisks when the class stopped and stared at a stupefying monument. Shouts and laughter mingled. Jean Calmet, who had been walking like a somnambulist for a moment, lifted his eyes and was struck with amazement: an Ogre was sitting at the top of the shaft of a fountain, devouring an already half swallowed child whose bare buttocks and little dimpled thighs thrashed about on his bloody chest! Jean Calmet screwed up his eye to see better: the scene was dreadful. Thick-set, his face broad, his mouth distended, immense, his wide-spaced teeth planted in the child's back, the Ogre showed mute pleasure, and his flat nose, his blue eyes, the whole rictus of his face insulted the passers-by compelled to witness his crime. One realised, to see him so sure of himself, greedy and vigorous, that nothing could stop his odious banquet. The monster was comfortably seated, wearing a blood-red tunic and green breeches spotted with horrible, rust-like spatterings. His right elbow raised on high, with his huge paw he held the naked kid in his gaping, crimson mug. Under his left arm, a supply of fresh flesh: a plump little girl with long hair, her face distorted by screams and tears; poor little victim, all ready to be gobbled up at the next meal. In the Ogre's belt, still on the left, a sack from which emerged the torsos of crying boys and girls. They were very pale, and their skin made a strange contrast with the killer's coppery hide. The little boy had managed to get out of the basket as far as his belly, he was trying to escape, he made a terrific effort, he clung to the Ogre's leg to help himself, and this useless attempt, the tears, the little body that was writhing added to the horror of the giant, whose feast nothing could stop. Another kid was hung from his belt, to the right, next o the butcher's knife. This child also struggled, lashing out with his little legs against the knee of the monstrous character, who must have liked this gesticulation, who enjoyed it, who was impatient to taste that nice living flesh which was twisting in its bonds and in its baskets: that is always why he had his larder with him, securely lashed to his belt; the fresh meat lived and moved on his own hip, against his own skin, whetting his appetite, provoking his laughter. The Ogre's mirth!'

'All of a sudden, there is silence, everyone stands petrified: in the doorway of the Academy, massive, immense, skull shining, his nose fitted with his fearsome dark glasses, Monsieur Grapp appeared, contemplating the adversary, almost dreamily. But despite the concentrated strength that he embodies, there is something else that stupefies the onlookers: in his hand - a new monstrosity, an object emerging from earliest times, an aggressive, dominant symbol, as astonishing as an archaic beast - Grapp holds a whip, a long cannoneer's whip as curly as a snake ready to strike, a long thong of braided leather gushing from a shank gleaming and thick as a truncheon. A moment of amazement, a boy gives a shout, the megaphone takes up his refrain and the crowd of demonstrators marches on the main door. Grapp raises the whip, makes it whistle and springs at the besiegers. Bewildered, the boys fall back. Later on, they will explain why: it is not fear, or respect, it is shock that made them yield. They are confused, flabbergasted, several laugh nervously. Alain and Marc take pictures. But the whip still whistles, Grapp moves forward, all of a sudden the whole group starts running away, reaching the main gate in disorder. Then Grapp no longer restrains himself, he runs from one to the other, the whip on high, he overtakes the fugitives, bounds up to the wooden barracks at the western entrance, he comes leaping back, the whip still raised, whistling, he goes through the gate, he pursues the survivors into the Rue de la Cité-Devant, he retraces his steps, he seizes the venerable gate, he heaves the iron grille shut. The courtyard is empty. Monsieur Grapp is master of the field.'

[Julien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bien écrit, très bien écrit même, parfois un peu lent, souvent très (trop) subtil pour un lecteur comme moi, mais amusant de lire un ouvrage qui se passe dans le quartier où je vis. Les émotions, les ressentis sont très bien décrits au même titre que la chape de plomb qui trône au dessus de Jean Calmet (seul personnage à être nommé par son prénom et son nom tout au long du roman). Une belle découverte (fortuite pourtant).

[Giedrė Ir Viskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lietuviškai "Tironas".
Apie negalėjimą paleisti traumuojančios vaikystės patirčių. Net po mirties, despotas tėvas ėda jaunėliui sūnui gyvenimą. Likau be nuomonės, ar jis iš tiesų buvo blogas? Aišku, nerimą keliančių ženklų daug. Visa knyga, kaip jam darosi blogiau ir blogiau. Terapija dar nebuvo populiari; šiuo atveju būtų labai padėjusi pagrindianiam herojui. Slegiantis skaitalas, bet stilius puikus.

[зшиток · Rating 3 out of 5]

Якщо вам цікаво як людина доходить до самогубства - ця книга покаже вам цей шлях. Якби ця книга трапилася мені років 10 тому, то був би захват від таких одкровень. А зараз ці внутрішні монологи мене трошки втомлюють. Фінальна сцена самогубства написана вражаюче.

[Gediminas Kontrimas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tikrai neblogai. Nuobodžioje šveicariškoje realybėje randasi visai nenuobodi literatūra. Iki Frišo ir Diurenmato netempia, bet visai netoli.

[Ralitsa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful novel about a man living a pointless existence in his father's shadow that breaks him.

Existential, oedipal, written beautifully and grotesque at the same time.

[Mathilde Panchaud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ça me fume de lire ce livre en sachant que j’ai étudié au gymnase de la cité

[Minnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Sanju Hans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nach den Tode seines übermächtigen Vaters, versucht der 40-jährige Lateinlehrer seinen Vater-Sohn-Konflikt zu bewältigen. Der Aufstand gegen das Vaterbild ist beklemmend dargestellt.Gleichzeitig ist es auch eine verstörend schöne und traurige Liebesgeschichte des in der Krise steckenden Vierzigers mit einer zwanzigjährigen Kunststudentin.
Treffend dargestellt ist die Stimmung in eine Schweizer Stadt (Lausanne) zu Zeit des grossen Umbruches der 1970er Jahre. Dass die Geschichte dramatisch endet, ist voraussehbar.
Die Auszeichnung mit dem Prix Goncourt war mehr als berechtigt

[Екатерина · Rating 4 out of 5]

Един от най-известните швейцарски писатели - за съжаление малко познат у нас. Романът "Човекоядецът" му донася наградата "Гонкур" и той е първият писател извън Франция, който е удостоен с нея.
Романът е мрачен, бавен, предаващ много истински отношенията деспотичен баща - син.
Наистина добър роман.

[Sandra Porchet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spirale infernale à Lausanne

[Winnielou · Rating 3 out of 5]

De belles pages et un style prenant par moments mais je n'ai pas aimé les personnage et me suis souvent ennuyée.

[Genevieve David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary book about a father's influence over a son. It's ending is difficult for those with a fragile sensibility but it is autobiographical.