Our Share of Time

by Yves Navarre, Noelle Domke (Translator), Dominic Di Bernardi (Translator)

When it happens you don't expect it. You don't expect anything anymore. You lose your head for just a second and someone walks into your life, turns it upside down, tenderly, brutally, making a place for himself. Even before anything has happened it's already too late. You can't tell who is choosing whom, when, how, why. You only know these things later when everything is over and each person holds the other accountable for what has gone on. These opening lines from Our Share of Time begin a story concerned with the impossibility of sustaining love, or even understanding how and why it started. In this diarylike reminiscence, Pierre Forgue, a Parisian school teacher, offers us an apologia for his past and present life as well as a bleak picture of his future. Moving between his Paris apartment and his summer cottage in Peyroc, he vacillates between love and indifference, between Duck (the young man who casually enters his life and who callously departs) and the rest of the world, between lost youth and approaching middle age.His is the universal midlife crisis accentuated by the presence of Duck, the now-you-see-him-now-you-don't young and handsome intruder who brings both happiness and misery. This novel, about the difficulty of maintaining lasting relationships, succeeds by the painstaking honesty with which Yves Navarre records events whose ending is happy, painful, and sweet.

Genres: Fiction, France, LGBT, Gay, French Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Yves Navarre (September 24, 1940 – January 24, 1994) was a French writer. A gay man, most of his work concerned homosexuality and associated issues, such as AIDS. In his romantic works, Navarre was noted for his tendency to emphasize sensuality and "the mystical qualities of love" rather than sexuality or sensationalism. He was awarded the 1980 Prix Goncourt for his novel Le Jardin d'acclimatation.

He studied Spanish, English, and French literature at the University of Lille, earning degrees in 1961 and 1964. The following year, he studied at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord. He then worked for an ad agency as a creative writer.

He began submitting works to publishers in 1958, although it was not until 1971 that his first novel, Lady Black, was published. This was followed in 1973 by Les Loukoums, which tells the story of a malady afflicting a group of New Yorkers. A string of novels followed, often – as in Le Petit Galopin de nos corps, 1977 and Portrait de Julien devant la fenêtre, 1979 – about love affairs between two male characters. He also wrote works of drama, such as Il pleut : si on tuait papa-maman, La Guerre des piscines, and Les Dernières clientes.

For Le Jardin d'acclimatation, the story of a young well-born man imprisoned and lobotomized for his homosexuality, Navarre was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1980. He became François Mitterrand's main advocate in the gay community during the 1981 and 1988 elections, although as a novelist and not a politician, he felt misunderstood and ineffective in the role.

In 1984, Navarre suffered a stroke. He did not publish any more works until 1986.

Between 1990 and 1993 he lived in Montreal, Quebec. His 1992 novel Ce sont amis que vent emporte tells the story of a sculptor, Roch, in a relationship with a dancer, David. The novel recounts their struggle against AIDS. After his return to France, he developed depression and committed suicide with barbiturates on January 24, 1994.

For a particularly moving obituary, please see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peo...

Reviews

[Raul]

Pierre Forgue, a gay French and literature teacher living in Paris heading into his middle age falls in love with Daniel -nicknamed Duck- who is in his twenties, and decides to write a novel, which is this story, about the experience. The story of Pierre Forgue touches on loneliness, unrequited love and friendship as well as how abuse and trauma from childhood affects one's life and the relationships we form in adulthood. Pierre Forgue was bullied and physically abused as a child for not being a normal, he does not live up to his father's model of a son and his mother not knowing how to handle the bullying works together with Pierre to hide the real reason behind the bruises from his father as well as to ignore them. This was quite frankly one of the most depressing novels I've read in a while, and it's not just because because of the abuse, but mostly from the lack of love in this book and the suffering caused by it. The description of this novel had me thinking this was some love story, and I couldn't have been more misled.

Love here is measured in calculated bits, no one really gives it and most of the time is spent gauging the feelings of the other person, of their genuineness and the feelings' existence. Duck, who is supposed to be charming because of his boyish and adventurous way of living life, I found detestable and it seemed that although everyone around Pierre knew the outcome of their relationship, it was nerve-wracking to see it all unfold and the effects it had on the protagonist.

It is difficult to give star ratings to this story, I liked Navarre's ability of perfectly rendering place and situation without being tediously descriptive. I didn't like the continuous inner monologues, the ideas and thoughts on love and falling in love become repetitive at some point. In the end I liked this story, it was a difficult read but it's made me want to read more of Yves Navarre's work.

[kate]

SLOW French rambling but it's not about a crazy woman this time, just a slightly depressed male teacher.

[OUT Shirt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A szerző stílusa magával ragadó, a felidézett emlékek leírása a táj érzékletes bemutatása, a benne lévő érzések láncolatának kidolgozása magával ragadó. Kicsit filozófikus, kicsit lassú. Bosszantott a fülszöveg mondata, hogy alapvetően a "fiuk között már minden törött", talán nem ez a gond, talán inkább Pierre alkata, vonzalma a gond, aki lehetetlent akar, vagyis olyan szerelmet, amelyben ugyan egyenragu felek vannak, de magát mégis kevesebbre tartja. Ha hetreo lenne, akkor sem hiszem, hogy valaha megtalálta volna a párját. Vagy az is lehet, hogy mégis valamelyest a kor és a körülmények áldozatai vagyunk? Nem tudom. Én is ismertem olyat, akinek az egész életében csak pár perc jutott a vágyott időből, mert vagy az elérhetetlent akarta vagy a plátói kapcsolatok rabja volt. De mindezt annyira közel hozta a szerző, hogy teljesen együtt tudtam érezni vele: átérezni a folytonos csalódottságot, a magányt, és a másik önzőségének elfogadását. Megengedni a másiknak a teljes szabadságot, még azt is, hogy minket eltaposson, vagy megalázzon... Érzékletesenn írta le, még akkor is, ha ezt jobb, ha elkerüljük... Tetszett.

[tily]

this was an interesting read. I’m not sure how this book fell into my lap - maybe a little free library? it felt similar to a Kerouac book in the sense of a lot of ramblings but a few moments of absolute thought provoking genius. I loved the sense of community in the book, and how it didn’t downplay the neuroses.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working on the review...