Summer of the Elder Tree

by Marie Chaix, Harry Matthews (Translator)

A meditation on the themes of separation and silence, The Summer of the Elder Tree was Marie Chaix's first book to appear in fourteen years, and deals with the reasons for her withdrawal from writing, as well as the events in her life since the death of her mother (as detailed in Silences, or a Woman's Life). With uncompromising sincerity, and in the same beautiful prose for which she is renowned, Marie Chaix here takes stock of her life as a woman and writer, as well as the crises that caused her to give up her work. The Summer of the Elder Tree has its roots in Chaix's previous books while standing alone as a work of immense a new beginning

Genres: French Literature, France, Memoir, Nonfiction

118 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marie Chaix, author of The Laurels of Lake Constance, and fêted author in France, hits a thirteen-year writer’s block that she works through by writing this non-chronological reflective memoir thing about her past and present. Told in diary fragments and short impressionistic chapters, she is overly precious and grandmotherly when writing about her family, but cutting and clear-eyed when looking back at her literary career, and solving her present block problem. Translated by her husband Harry Mathews, referred to as Harry throughout, who had to translate her peculiar takes on her past relationships and partners, and the occasional affectionate digs at this personality. A charming but inessential and overly personal book, probably for fans of Chaix and her work only—a good palate-whetter for anyone else.

[Hsu Jui-Ting · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of thoughts, conveyances and idolatry that never quite matches the intimate nuances or sincerely anguished love of her earlier work, Silences, or a Woman's Life.