L'Animale

by Rachilde

"Le fait est que la perversité de Madame Rachilde est un exemple unique en littérature. On a vu des femmes chastes, des femmes légères, des femmes superficielles, des femmes pédantes, des femmes sentimentales, des femmes terribles, des femmes mystiques, des femmes athées, mais on n'avait pas encore vu de femme perverse." Louis Dumur, La Plume, 15 mai 1893. "Je viens de lire le livre le plus pervers, le plus malsain el le plus cruellement détraqué que je connaisse..." Jean Lorrain.

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 1993

About the author

Rachilde was the nom de plume of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery, a French author who was born February 11, 1860 in Périgueux, Périgord, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire and died in April 4, 1953.
She is considered to be a pioneer of anti-realistic drama and a participant in the Decadent movement.
Rachilde was married to Alfred Vallette.

Reviews

[Pam a Lamb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am loathe to give this book a poor review because Rachilde's tragic story of Laure, a woman who loves only for the sake of love itself and struggles, by consequence, to find a place for herself in a pragmatic world, is beautifully moving. However, I must be honest — upon learning that this was translated from the French by DeepL, I was repulsed. It does explain certain things: I noticed that the language in the translation was repetitive, that the tone had seemed somewhat odd in some passages, and so on. I have no interest in or desire to read books generated by a machine. I only learnt this was the case for this translation of The Animal after going to post a review on GoodReads, which I then validated on the original kickstarter page for the project. It is highly deceptive that this was not disclosed in the summary for this book.

Still, I owe a sincere thank you to BookSirens for providing me a free copy of The Animal and introducing me to Rachilde. Happily, I speak French fluently and will be looking for a copy of this book in its original language.

[Pink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lu quasiment d'une traite, la peinture d'une société qui étouffe le désir des femmes en les associant à la bestialité. Son style d'écriture m'a vraiment transportée, j'en oublierais presque les trucs qui m'ont déplu notamment sur l'origine du "mal" qui anime la personnage principale.

[Olicorta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naked ladies + cats cinematic universe

[Rumimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le livre repose sur deux lieux-communs décadents : celui de la femme vénale, et l'assimilation de cette femme vénale à un animal (en particulier aux félins). Mais loin du seul portrait de femme à la sexualité sauvage, L'Animale dépasse ces lieux communs par leur subjectivation, ce qui permet d'y lire une critique d'une répression sexuelle qui marginalise dans la honte et lance les déviantes sur des routes dangereuses. Bien sûr le roman n'échappe pas à une naturalisation de cette sexualité débridée (portée en germe même avant la naissance dans l'inconduite des parents, qui serait encore provoquée par, tenez vous bien, les nourritures trop riches du Sud), ni à un stigmate misogyne de la tare ici animalisée.

[Ben Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and translation! It's wonderful that this book now exists as a publication in English translated from its original French. How great that the Decadents like Rachilde, well over a century ago, created such provocative characters and descriptions of sexuality. The themes are timeless! It captured my imagination in a fun, daring way, and I think a big cross-section of modern audience of readers will truly love this book.

[DianeBai · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌸Dans ce roman, Rachilde met en scène une femme mariée, Laurence, installée dans une existence bourgeoise en apparence calme et respectable.
Mais sous cette façade, elle se sent profondément étrangère aux rôles qu'on attend d'elle: épouse sage et femme raisonnable.

Le roman explore son malaise intérieur, son attirance pour ce qui échappe aux règles sociales et son rapport troublé au désir, décrit comme une force instinctive, presque primitive.
Laure est gouvernée par ses pulsions: désir sexuel intense, jalousie violente, rapport instinctif au corps.
Elle agit davantage selon ses instincts que selon la raison, ce qui renvoie aux théories naturalistes et aux discours pseudo-scientifiques de l'époque sur l'hystérie féminine.

À travers ses pensées, ses gestes et ses relations, Rachilde interroge la frontière entre culture et nature, entre ce que la société impose et ce que le corps réclame.


L'Animale s'inscrit pleinement dans l'esthétique de la Décadence fin-de-siècle (années 1880-1900), ce courant hanté par l'idée de déclin, de fatigue morale et de désagrégation des valeurs bourgeoises.
Chez Rachilde, cette décadence n'est pas seulement sociale: elle est intime, corporelle, nerveuse.

La protagoniste évolue dans un univers bourgeois figé, symbole d'un monde épuisé, sans élan vital.
Le mariage, la respectabilité, la rationalité masculine apparaissent comme des structures mortes.
La décadence, ici, n'est pas une chute spectaculaire mais une usure lente, un malaise diffus.


✨Plus qu'une histoire d'adultère ou de passion, c'est une réflexion provocante sur la liberté et l'animalité humaine dans un monde de contrainte où seule la pulsion semble offrir une échappée, dangereuse mais vitale...

Et que dire de cette fin en apothéose, j'en suis encore toute chamboulée!!🥺

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating. It's hard to comment on the writing--not only is this in translation but it's at least partly translated by A.I. More will have to be said on this, and I suspect that we will see lots of such assisted translations for good and ill. However, as to the plot which is wholly Rachilde's--it rivals Venus in its stomach-twisting conclusion.

Decadent writing of this time is all about over-the-top edginess, e.g. falling in passionate love with a giant vase, being a worm, eating flowers until you die...beautiful corruption is the point and it doesn't spend time on shaping such horror into a lesson about the folly of man--that's the purview of the gothic. So, this book about a woman "born bad," growing up surrounded by semi-toxic plants, trying to tempt a priest, successfully driving a disabled man to suicide via his body poisoning the town well, and then having a sexual awakening after witnessing a bunch of cats is par for the course. But the end is the devastating part since you can't help rooting for this devilishly innocent girl who might be doing twisted stuff sometimes but is overall just a little headstrong and unashamed while also being the victim of her circumstances. But, what happens to her in the end is both horrible but also perfectly on-theme.

[Sara Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the stoy of a girl that loves the ideia of love. The book talks about the plesaure and the sexual desire that the main character can control. I thought Laure a little futile and did not care to hurt people. It is true that some of her lovers were real jerks, but some did not deserve to suffer just because they love her. Also I did not understand that cat, it is cute but what represents to the story. Can be her internal beast?
But I did like very to discover new writers, especialy the ones that were doomed to oblivion. I did enjoy Rachilde writing and found some similares with Colette.

[Veerle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bold and daring, this novel describes a young women who lusts for love at the end of the 19th century. We follow Laure Lordès, who wants passion, love and sex and who has to flee her town amidst scandal. Not only does she lead the local boys astray from a young age, she also drives Lucien, her father's clerk to suicide after seducing him. Quite a bold storyline for that time.

She goes to live in Paris with her ex-fiancée and shuts herself into his apartment. Also presesent: the feral cat Mimi who serves not only as a foil, but also as a symbol for Laure's inner self. The story unravels on the roofs of Paris where Laure keeps looking for passion

Rachilde was the nom de plume of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery who was part of the Decadent movement. I had never heard about them, but I do want to look into them a bit more. The strong parts of this novel are the portrayal of her characters (Laure as she spirals down in some sort of madness, the cat, Lucien...) and the ennuie of the countryside. Recommended!

Thank you BookSirens for the ARC!

[sila necista · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Et elle eut la vision d'un homme-hydre : plusieurs têtes sur toujours le même corps : et qu'importait, après tout, la dignité de ces multiples fronts !"
ça fait au moins depuis le lycée que j'ai pas ressenti un tel amour pour un livre. pas un mot de superflu. un chef-d'œuvre injustement oublié.

[Francesca Penchant · Rating 5 out of 5]

“They remained entwined for a second; Laure melted completely onto his mouth, like a crushing fruit. With the scent of roses in her hair and on her fingertips, she surrounded him with an extraordinary vertigo, pushing him toward an abyss that he imagined to be cool and dark, like the luxurious foliage of a great park. Sandy paths of gold spiraled before him; bare arms, a forest of bare arms, knotted around his neck; he was caressed by a floating braid of black hair that took on the dimensions of a fiery smoke, and he could no longer escape, for a mutinous child’s voice cried out to him, ‘Carry me, my brother, carry me, carry me!’”
—The Animal by Rachilde

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though not disclosed on the Amazon listing, the in-progress Kickstarter for this book notes that this translation was made using AI. The kickstarter claims a number of individuals of various skill sets contributed to editing the results of the machine translation. Perhaps engaging an actual translator would be a better use of time and resources. I will not waste money on machine translation.