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În timp ce soțul ei este plecat pe frontul Primului Război Mondial, Marta, o fată de 19 ani, începe o relație cu un băiat mai tânăr cu trei ani decât ea. Pentru cei doi îndrăgostiți, războiul este o adevărată vacanță în care își pot trăi nestingheriți fericirea. O fericire care se va dovedi însă iluzorie. Bucuria începe să le fie umbrită de reproșurile părinților și de atitudinea prietenilor și a cunoscuților, care îi evită. Situația, tensionată de comportamentul paranoic și adesea dominator al băiatului, se complică și mai mult când Marta rămâne însărcinată, iar povestea de dragoste ce părea inițial că va dura la nesfârșit are un final tragic.
167 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
278 people are currently reading
10045 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Radiguet
31 books173 followersRaymond Radiguet was born in Saint-Maur, Val-de-Marne close to Paris, the son of a caricaturist. In 1917 he moved to the city. Soon he would drop out of the Lycée Charlemagne, where he studied, in order to pursue his interests in journalism and literature. He associated himself with the Modernist set, befriending Picasso, Max Jacob, Jean Hugo, Juan Gris, and especially Jean Cocteau, who became his mentor. Radiguet also had several well-documented relationships with women. An anecdote told by Ernest Hemingway has an enraged Cocteau charging Radiguet (known in the Parisian literary circles as "Monsieur Bébé" – Mister Baby) with decadence for his tryst with a model: "Bébé est vicieuse. Il aime les femmes." ("Baby is depraved. He likes women." [Note the use of the feminine adjective:]). Radiguet, Hemingway implies, employed his sexuality to advance his career, being a writer "who knew how to make his career not only with his pen but with his pencil."
In early 1923 Radiguet published his first and most famous novel, Le Diable au corps (The Devil in the Flesh). The story of a young married woman who has an affair with a sixteen-year-old boy while her husband is away fighting at the front provoked scandal in a country that had just been through World War I. Though Radiguet denied it, it was established later that the story was in large part autobiographical. Critics, who initially despised the intense publicity campaign for the book's release (something not normally associated with works of literary merit at the time), were finally won over by the quality of Radiguet's writing and his sober, objective style.
His second novel, Le bal du Comte d'Orgel, also dealing with adultery, was only published posthumously in 1924. Radiguet had died the previous year, aged 20, of typhoid fever, which he contracted after a trip he took with Cocteau. In reaction to this death Francis Poulenc wrote, "For two days I was unable to do anything, I was so stunned" (Ivry 1996). Alongside these two novels, Radiguet's works include a few poetry volumes and a play.
In early 1923 Radiguet published his first and most famous novel, Le Diable au corps (The Devil in the Flesh). The story of a young married woman who has an affair with a sixteen-year-old boy while her husband is away fighting at the front provoked scandal in a country that had just been through World War I. Though Radiguet denied it, it was established later that the story was in large part autobiographical. Critics, who initially despised the intense publicity campaign for the book's release (something not normally associated with works of literary merit at the time), were finally won over by the quality of Radiguet's writing and his sober, objective style.
His second novel, Le bal du Comte d'Orgel, also dealing with adultery, was only published posthumously in 1924. Radiguet had died the previous year, aged 20, of typhoid fever, which he contracted after a trip he took with Cocteau. In reaction to this death Francis Poulenc wrote, "For two days I was unable to do anything, I was so stunned" (Ivry 1996). Alongside these two novels, Radiguet's works include a few poetry volumes and a play.
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September 13, 2025
Some books are like obelisks of the past… The Devil in the Flesh, written by an almost adolescent author, is one of those… There must be something special that makes this short novel remain one of the milestones in literature through all the years… And indeed there is… The story resembles a confession…
Transparency of style, sincerity and subtlety of observations make this story timeless…
In the year nineteen seventeen he meets a girl who is a soldier’s fiancée and he is charmed… Soon she gets married… But she didn’t forget him… And she invites him to visit her at home… And it’s where all the pleasures and sorrows have begun…
Our experience of our first sensual love we always keep in our memories.
I am going to bring a great deal of criticism on myself. But what can I do about it? Is it my fault if I turned twelve a few months before war was declared? The turmoil I went through during that most unusual time was undoubtedly of a kind that you don’t experience at that age; yet since, despite outward appearances, there is nothing that has the power to make us get older, I had no choice but to behave as a child in the course of an adventure that would have made a grown man feel awkward. My classmates, too, will have memories of the period that are very different from those of their elders. People who reproach me should try and imagine what the War was for so many young boys – a four-year-long holiday.
Transparency of style, sincerity and subtlety of observations make this story timeless…
In the year nineteen seventeen he meets a girl who is a soldier’s fiancée and he is charmed… Soon she gets married… But she didn’t forget him… And she invites him to visit her at home… And it’s where all the pleasures and sorrows have begun…
Is this the fault of the magnet or the needle? This was how I felt my lips touch hers. Her eyes were still closed, but in the obvious way of someone who isn’t asleep. I kissed her, astonished at my temerity, when it was actually her who enticed me to her mouth as I came closer to her face. Her hands clung fiercely round my neck; they couldn’t have held me more tightly in a shipwreck. I wasn’t sure whether she wanted me to save her, or to drown alongside her.
Our experience of our first sensual love we always keep in our memories.
July 24, 2024
There have been plenty of novels written from the viewpoint of a teenager in love, but there can't be many where the young narrator is roughly the same age as the writer at the time. Like Alain-Fournier before him, Raymond Radiguet's life was cut short (Fournier in the Great War, Radiguet of Typhoid fever), and I'm sure both would have gone on to fulfil their great potential after their early works. I was staggered to learn of Radiguet's age when he wrote The Devil in the Flesh, but that's one of the reasons I found it worked so well. Radiguet's memories of his own affair were still so fresh at the time, rather than say an older writer looking back over foggy memories.
I found little to like about the unnamed narrator, who is too selfish and confident for his own good when starting a sneaky relationship with Marthe, an older woman (although there are only four years between them it felt a lot more), but I did understand the way he went about his business, and even led me to believe that I may learn some unpleasant knowledge along the way that I'd rather not. Maybe even about one's self. He's in love, or so he thinks, but doesn't yet understand all it's many complex layers.
Even though Radiguet's prose is plain, one of the effective measures within the novel is that his morality, or his amorality is never clear-cut. Does our narrator say the things he does because he really believes them to be true, or is he just simply trying to impress, or even worse, intimate? The insights into this love affair I found compelling, because it isn't your average love affair, and even though the First World War is absent from most of the narrative, it is still very much a story affected by that. Anyone after a sugary love affair will be disappointed, as this novel can be cruel and coldly self-centred at times, which led to much shock and outrage on its first publication.
It may not rattle the cages now as it did back then, but it still retains its power.
November 1, 2025
CUORE ACERBO
La prima trasposizione, quella più celebre e più riuscita, è francese, firmata nel 1947 da Claude Autant-Lara. I due amanti sono interpretati da Micheline Presle e Gérard Philipe, che all’epoca delle riprese aveva dieci anni in più del personaggio di Radiguet. Rimase comunque un ruolo e un’interpretazione memorabile e consacrò Gérard Philipe.
La storia è nota, in quanto questo breve libro (centoventi paginette) è a suo modo ormai un classico, nonostante dimostri ben meno dei suoi centodue anni.
Eccola molto in sintesi: lui, l’io-narrante, ha sedici anni quando inizia la storia con Marthe, che di anni ne ha diciotto, si è sposata di recente, e il marito Jacques è partito soldato (Grande Guerra). Lui adolescente, e minorenne, lei poco più grande.
Amore, passione (sfrenata), ardore, e tutto il corredo: tutto meno che la castità della regia di Autant-Lara nel primo adattamento del 1947 (ne seguono altri due, incluso quello decisamente molto libero di Marco Bellocchio, che però conserva il titolo originale): il regista francese è rimasto celebre per le panoramiche dalla coppia che si bacia fremente alle fiamme del caminetto, con ovvio ed esplicito simbolismo.
Lei rimane incinta, il bimbo è di lui, ma con un po’ di abilità lo si potrebbe anche spacciare per quello del marito in licenza.
Ma non è certo solo la storia ad avere creato il caso. C’è che apparve pochi mesi prima che il suo autore morisse (a soli vent’anni). Morì giovanissimo. E aveva già uno sponsor autorevole, addirittura Jean Cocteau che lo definiva: il mio alunno diventato mio maestro. E lo apprezzava così: non somiglia a nulla. Non somiglia a nessuno. E lo classificava così: ha stile, invece di avere uno stile.
Quindi, un manifesto caso di enfant prodige. Viene da pensare a Rimbaud: ma anche il poeta, che pur morì giovane, aveva comunque ben più di dieci anni di Radiguet.
Un cuore acerbo è il titolo della prima edizione italiana, e l’io-narrante ha sicuramente un cuore inesperto, che travolto dall’amore e dalla passione, lo fa comportare senza porsi limiti né ostacoli. Una tale libertà d’intento che fa pensare a un istinto animale. E la storia del suo amore con Marthe si configura come romanzo di formazione, come educazione sentimentale.
La storia d’amore crea scandalo. Scandalo che però non ne impedisce lo sviluppo. I due amanti non si perdono né si lasciano. Colpisce come le rispettive famiglie, pur tra sussulti e mal di stomaco, non impongano la loro volontà castrante. E colpisce forse anche più come il tempo di guerra – quella guerra che fece un numero di morti impressionante e che ogni giorno potrebbe portarsi via il marito di Marthe – è vissuta dai due giovani amanti – giovane lei, giovanissimo lui, imberbe – come un lungo spazio temporale di pace e libertà, di divertimento e godimento.
Amedeo Modigliani: Ritratto di Raymond Radiguet, 1915.
Jacques-Émile Blanche: Studio per il ritratto di Raymond Radiguet, 1922 circa.
Amedeo Modigliani: Ritratto di Jean Cocteau, 1916. Cocteau e Radiguet furono amanti con grande scorno di Gide.
La prima trasposizione, quella più celebre e più riuscita, è francese, firmata nel 1947 da Claude Autant-Lara. I due amanti sono interpretati da Micheline Presle e Gérard Philipe, che all’epoca delle riprese aveva dieci anni in più del personaggio di Radiguet. Rimase comunque un ruolo e un’interpretazione memorabile e consacrò Gérard Philipe.
La storia è nota, in quanto questo breve libro (centoventi paginette) è a suo modo ormai un classico, nonostante dimostri ben meno dei suoi centodue anni.
Eccola molto in sintesi: lui, l’io-narrante, ha sedici anni quando inizia la storia con Marthe, che di anni ne ha diciotto, si è sposata di recente, e il marito Jacques è partito soldato (Grande Guerra). Lui adolescente, e minorenne, lei poco più grande.
Amore, passione (sfrenata), ardore, e tutto il corredo: tutto meno che la castità della regia di Autant-Lara nel primo adattamento del 1947 (ne seguono altri due, incluso quello decisamente molto libero di Marco Bellocchio, che però conserva il titolo originale): il regista francese è rimasto celebre per le panoramiche dalla coppia che si bacia fremente alle fiamme del caminetto, con ovvio ed esplicito simbolismo.
Lei rimane incinta, il bimbo è di lui, ma con un po’ di abilità lo si potrebbe anche spacciare per quello del marito in licenza.
Ma non è certo solo la storia ad avere creato il caso. C’è che apparve pochi mesi prima che il suo autore morisse (a soli vent’anni). Morì giovanissimo. E aveva già uno sponsor autorevole, addirittura Jean Cocteau che lo definiva: il mio alunno diventato mio maestro. E lo apprezzava così: non somiglia a nulla. Non somiglia a nessuno. E lo classificava così: ha stile, invece di avere uno stile.
Quindi, un manifesto caso di enfant prodige. Viene da pensare a Rimbaud: ma anche il poeta, che pur morì giovane, aveva comunque ben più di dieci anni di Radiguet.
Un cuore acerbo è il titolo della prima edizione italiana, e l’io-narrante ha sicuramente un cuore inesperto, che travolto dall’amore e dalla passione, lo fa comportare senza porsi limiti né ostacoli. Una tale libertà d’intento che fa pensare a un istinto animale. E la storia del suo amore con Marthe si configura come romanzo di formazione, come educazione sentimentale.
La storia d’amore crea scandalo. Scandalo che però non ne impedisce lo sviluppo. I due amanti non si perdono né si lasciano. Colpisce come le rispettive famiglie, pur tra sussulti e mal di stomaco, non impongano la loro volontà castrante. E colpisce forse anche più come il tempo di guerra – quella guerra che fece un numero di morti impressionante e che ogni giorno potrebbe portarsi via il marito di Marthe – è vissuta dai due giovani amanti – giovane lei, giovanissimo lui, imberbe – come un lungo spazio temporale di pace e libertà, di divertimento e godimento.
Amedeo Modigliani: Ritratto di Raymond Radiguet, 1915.
Jacques-Émile Blanche: Studio per il ritratto di Raymond Radiguet, 1922 circa.
Amedeo Modigliani: Ritratto di Jean Cocteau, 1916. Cocteau e Radiguet furono amanti con grande scorno di Gide.
November 6, 2015
One of the greatest tragedies of 20th century literature was the death of Raymond Radiguet in 1923. Having written this novel in his teens he finally succumbed to typhoid at the age of 20. In his short life he dazzled France's artistic community, becoming friends with Picasso and Jean Cocteau, even Coco Chanel arranged his funeral. When we discuss him we can only make assumptions and question what he would have become if he hadn't died so young. However, we can keep him alive by reading what little work he left us in his wake.
The Devil in the Flesh concerns the love affair between a 16y/o boy and a 19y/o married woman whose husband is away fighting in WWI. Like in Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man we are presented with a highly precocious youth who seems to know the true meaning of life and love whilst in his mid-teens. The torrid love affair is depicted with all the difficulties and foibles that we find in many of these "forbidden love" novels that saturated 19th-century France. However this one differs because it feels fresh. One must remember that this was written by a teenager so the teenage voice of our main character is truly a teenage voice. This isn't some white guy in his mid-30s trying to depict teenagers having sex, this is an actual teenager writing about what he knows and through that we discover one of the most believable and relatable teenage voices in fiction.
Anyone who knows anything about Radiguet will realise that this is clearly a highly autobiographical work. Not only was he famous for his writing, he was also known for being quite... amorous. I mean, if Hemingway makes jokes about how much sex you have then you know you lead a pretty busy life. Thus the depiction of the affair is told through a highly eroticised eye. However, we're used to that, this is a French novel of course.
Overall this is a wonderful little novel of romance, secrecy and the erotic. I mean, the fact that this book written by a 19-year-old is published by Penguin Modern Classics kind of explains everything. It's a true French classic. I was shocked when I logged on here to write my review and I noticed that this hasn't even received 2,000 ratings. Ugh, the best ones are never read are they? So I will hold this book aloft and hope the world sees it. Radiguet isn't dead, every page keeps him alive.
The Devil in the Flesh concerns the love affair between a 16y/o boy and a 19y/o married woman whose husband is away fighting in WWI. Like in Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man we are presented with a highly precocious youth who seems to know the true meaning of life and love whilst in his mid-teens. The torrid love affair is depicted with all the difficulties and foibles that we find in many of these "forbidden love" novels that saturated 19th-century France. However this one differs because it feels fresh. One must remember that this was written by a teenager so the teenage voice of our main character is truly a teenage voice. This isn't some white guy in his mid-30s trying to depict teenagers having sex, this is an actual teenager writing about what he knows and through that we discover one of the most believable and relatable teenage voices in fiction.
Anyone who knows anything about Radiguet will realise that this is clearly a highly autobiographical work. Not only was he famous for his writing, he was also known for being quite... amorous. I mean, if Hemingway makes jokes about how much sex you have then you know you lead a pretty busy life. Thus the depiction of the affair is told through a highly eroticised eye. However, we're used to that, this is a French novel of course.
Overall this is a wonderful little novel of romance, secrecy and the erotic. I mean, the fact that this book written by a 19-year-old is published by Penguin Modern Classics kind of explains everything. It's a true French classic. I was shocked when I logged on here to write my review and I noticed that this hasn't even received 2,000 ratings. Ugh, the best ones are never read are they? So I will hold this book aloft and hope the world sees it. Radiguet isn't dead, every page keeps him alive.
February 9, 2025
Is there a Radiguet myth as there is a Rimbaud myth?
Raymond Radiguet, born in 1903, wrote a fantastic precocity. He produced his masterpiece, Devil in the Body, between sixteen and eighteen. This publication provoked a scandal in the protagonists' youth, but mainly due to the lack of respect for the brave combatants of the world conflict, which is still very recent. Moreover, the novel seems to justify Marthe's adultery, whose husband is beating her head and recognizes the young novelist's progress.
Any vestige of scandal disappeared from contemporary judgments, not leaving a single place of admiration. In the background of Radiguet's novel, we find a book in a clear and refined style, a social critique of the bourgeoisie, petty-bourgeois at the time. Conformity, the social base of the inhabitants of the small commune of the Marne bordering much of a small provincial town, is brushed with the cruelty of a seventeen-year-old adolescent.
Here's the book - A novel of analysis, love, and adolescence.
The First World War broke out. For the narrator, it is the beginning of the high holidays. He meets Marta, a young girl who is legally married. Marta soon finds herself again while Jacques, her husband, fights. Between her and the young boy burned a love, totally on Marthe's part, semi-cynical, semi-sincere in the role of the narrator. They become lovers. Although they are rivals, the young man tries to attenuate Marthe's unconscious cruelty about his husband and soften the tone of the letters he sends him. He knows too much about what to think of his love. Will it end, as do many passions, in indifference? Fate will decide differently.
Marthe announces to her young lover that she expects a child of his, who is sixteen years old. It saves the family's respectability; it allows the family to believe the husband, who is the father of the child, to be born. But when Martha dies of the consequences of childbirth, it is still her lover who calls and no longer her wires that take the same name. The attentive and deceived husband will remain to the end and persuade his wife that he likes her. He'll create more of his wires. The Storyteller, taken back by his family, concludes meaningfully by understanding that order puts itself around things in the long run.
Raymond Radiguet, born in 1903, wrote a fantastic precocity. He produced his masterpiece, Devil in the Body, between sixteen and eighteen. This publication provoked a scandal in the protagonists' youth, but mainly due to the lack of respect for the brave combatants of the world conflict, which is still very recent. Moreover, the novel seems to justify Marthe's adultery, whose husband is beating her head and recognizes the young novelist's progress.
Any vestige of scandal disappeared from contemporary judgments, not leaving a single place of admiration. In the background of Radiguet's novel, we find a book in a clear and refined style, a social critique of the bourgeoisie, petty-bourgeois at the time. Conformity, the social base of the inhabitants of the small commune of the Marne bordering much of a small provincial town, is brushed with the cruelty of a seventeen-year-old adolescent.
Here's the book - A novel of analysis, love, and adolescence.
The First World War broke out. For the narrator, it is the beginning of the high holidays. He meets Marta, a young girl who is legally married. Marta soon finds herself again while Jacques, her husband, fights. Between her and the young boy burned a love, totally on Marthe's part, semi-cynical, semi-sincere in the role of the narrator. They become lovers. Although they are rivals, the young man tries to attenuate Marthe's unconscious cruelty about his husband and soften the tone of the letters he sends him. He knows too much about what to think of his love. Will it end, as do many passions, in indifference? Fate will decide differently.
Marthe announces to her young lover that she expects a child of his, who is sixteen years old. It saves the family's respectability; it allows the family to believe the husband, who is the father of the child, to be born. But when Martha dies of the consequences of childbirth, it is still her lover who calls and no longer her wires that take the same name. The attentive and deceived husband will remain to the end and persuade his wife that he likes her. He'll create more of his wires. The Storyteller, taken back by his family, concludes meaningfully by understanding that order puts itself around things in the long run.
May 28, 2020
Novela corta que se lee en un suspiro, o dos, no más, y que sorprende por los 18 años que tenía el autor cuando la escribió.
El protagonista -la novela está escrita en primera persona-, es un adolescente, con lo que ello conlleva de egoísmo, de inmadurez,…
El protagonista -la novela está escrita en primera persona-, es un adolescente, con lo que ello conlleva de egoísmo, de inmadurez,…
“Me molestaba que, en una carta de ruptura, Marthe no me hablase de suicidio”… de primeras pasiones, de primeros descubrimientos vitales,…
“Ansiaba llegar a ser pronto lo bastante fuerte para prescindir del amor y, así, no tener que sacrificar ninguno de mis deseos. Ignoraba que, servidumbre por servidumbre, vale más ser vasallo del corazón que esclavo de los sentidos."Sin embargo, el narrador muestra una madurez y, sobre todo, una perversión que llama la atención. Tiene un encanto especial este chaval, esa mezcla entre alguien que acaba de ser un niño y alguien que empieza a ser un adulto es una parte importante del atractivo del libro.
October 10, 2016
Le Diable au corps (The Devil in the Flesh). Raymond Radiguet was 16 when he started writing this novel, was 18 when he finished it, and two years later he would be dead from typhoid fever. It's the story of a 16 year old French boy who has an affair with the 19 year old wife of a WWI soldier away from home. It caused quite a stir when it was first published. It seems to have been partly autobiographical since Radiguet himself, at age 14, had an affair with a soldiers wife.
In spite of Radiguet's young age the writing is exceptional. Many critics agree, some calling it one of the best French novels of the 20th century. It was a quick read and certainly worth the time.
In spite of Radiguet's young age the writing is exceptional. Many critics agree, some calling it one of the best French novels of the 20th century. It was a quick read and certainly worth the time.
December 9, 2013
This book has been on my radar for a while now since hearing that one of my favourite authors, Yukio Mishima, counted Radiguet as one of his influences and hoped to emulate his writing style.
The story itself is intriguing, and not as explicit at it may sound like at first. A 16 year old boy falls in love with a 19 year old married woman whose husband is fighting at the front during WW1. The couple embark on an affair, one that brings out rollercoaster emotions in the boy; one moment he is having deep philosophical thoughts about love and displaying maturity beyond his years, the next he gets angsty, selfish and manipulative.
Even if we disregard the fact that Radiguet was only 17 years old when he wrote this book, it's clear that he was a gifted writer. The writing was truly wonderful and flowed well. Unfortunately he died at the age of 20 from typhoid fever.
All in all a good, interesting read.
The story itself is intriguing, and not as explicit at it may sound like at first. A 16 year old boy falls in love with a 19 year old married woman whose husband is fighting at the front during WW1. The couple embark on an affair, one that brings out rollercoaster emotions in the boy; one moment he is having deep philosophical thoughts about love and displaying maturity beyond his years, the next he gets angsty, selfish and manipulative.
Even if we disregard the fact that Radiguet was only 17 years old when he wrote this book, it's clear that he was a gifted writer. The writing was truly wonderful and flowed well. Unfortunately he died at the age of 20 from typhoid fever.
All in all a good, interesting read.
October 24, 2024
This book remains scandalous because not many authors dare to explore the idea that a soldier's wife might not wait for her husband's return. Written by a teenager a century ago, this classic has a simplicity that keeps it highly readable. In a way, it resembles short Japanese novels that cut to the bone without much explanation. It almost feels like a mainstream Mishima book, as the affair at the heart of the story carries a cruel directness typical of teenage love, not often encountered in literature.
May 20, 2018
Ένας νεαρός μαθητής στην Γαλλία, στην διάρκεια του' Α Παγκόσμιου Πολέμου ερωτεύεται μια μεγαλύτερη του γυναίκα παντρεμένη, της οποίας ο άντρας βρίσκεται στο πεδίο της μάχης. Ο νεαρός θα νιώσει όλα εκείνα τα αισθήματα που νιώσαμε όλοι όταν ο έρωτας μας χτύπησε για πρώτη φορά την πόρτα... Τρυφερότητα, αμφιβολία, ζήλια και οργή...
Ο Ραντιγκέ, παρόλο το νεαρό της ηλικίας του (μόλις 20 χρονών) φτιάχνει ένα δυνατό λογοτεχνικό έρωτα χρησιμοποιώντας απλή γραφή και ζωηρές περιγραφές... Το βιβλίο είχε προκαλέσει τα ήθη της εποχής μιας και η διαφορά ηλικίας των δύο εραστών αλλά κυρίως η μοιχεία της Μάρθας ήταν αρκετά για να δημιουργήσουν εχθρικό κλίμα προς τον συγγραφέα και το βιβλίο του...
Ο νεαρός συγγραφέας με μια αφέλεια αλλά και μια αξιοσημείωτη ωριμότητα μέσα από ένα μικρό διήγημα καταφέρνει να μας κάνει να αφεθούμε στα μεθυστικά αρώματα του νεανικού έρωτα αλλά και να μας θυμίσει πως η ζωή μπορεί να ακολουθήσει διάφορες κατευθύνσεις που δεν συνάδουν πάντα με τις τρελές σκέψεις των ερωτευμένων...
3/5
Ο Ραντιγκέ, παρόλο το νεαρό της ηλικίας του (μόλις 20 χρονών) φτιάχνει ένα δυνατό λογοτεχνικό έρωτα χρησιμοποιώντας απλή γραφή και ζωηρές περιγραφές... Το βιβλίο είχε προκαλέσει τα ήθη της εποχής μιας και η διαφορά ηλικίας των δύο εραστών αλλά κυρίως η μοιχεία της Μάρθας ήταν αρκετά για να δημιουργήσουν εχθρικό κλίμα προς τον συγγραφέα και το βιβλίο του...
Ο νεαρός συγγραφέας με μια αφέλεια αλλά και μια αξιοσημείωτη ωριμότητα μέσα από ένα μικρό διήγημα καταφέρνει να μας κάνει να αφεθούμε στα μεθυστικά αρώματα του νεανικού έρωτα αλλά και να μας θυμίσει πως η ζωή μπορεί να ακολουθήσει διάφορες κατευθύνσεις που δεν συνάδουν πάντα με τις τρελές σκέψεις των ερωτευμένων...
3/5
December 6, 2017
Introduction, by Fay Weldon
--The Devil in the Flesh
Afterword, by Robert Baldick
--The Devil in the Flesh
Afterword, by Robert Baldick
March 7, 2021
“Ο Ραϊμόν Ραντιγκέ (Raymond Radiguet, 18 Ιουνίου 1903 - 12 Δεκεμβρίου 1923) ήταν Γάλλος συγγραφέας, το πρώιμο και εξαιρετικό ταλέντο του οποίου αποτυπώνεται στα δύο μυθιστορήματα που πρόλαβε να γράψει.
Στα τέλη του 1923 ο πολλά υποσχόμενος νέος συγγραφέας προσβλήθηκε από τυφοειδή πυρετό. Στις 9 Δεκεμβρίου είπε στον Κοκτώ : «Σε τρεις μέρες θα με τουφεκίσουν οι στρατιώτες του Θεού», και στις 12 Δεκεμβρίου πέθανε”.
«Με τον διάβολο στο κορμί»
Μια μικρή ιστοριούλα παρωχημένη και διαχρονική, μια εγκωμιαστική νεκρολογία στον αταίριαστο, τον απαγορευμένο, τον παράνομο, τον ντροπιαστικό και σκανδαλώδη έρωτα ανάμεσα σε έναν ανήλικο άνδρα και μια παντρεμένη γυναίκα λίγο μεγαλύτερη του, κατά τη διάρκεια του ΆΠΠ.
Μα, γίνεται να αποδώσεις τόσο βίαια και απερίσκεπτα τα παραπάνω χαρακτηριστικά στην έξαρση του σώματος και του πνεύματος, στην ηδονική έκσταση των αισθήσεων και του ασταμάτητου ψυχικού βασανιστηρίου που επιφέρει πάντα ο έρωτας ;
Αυτός, που δεν σκέφτεται με λογική διότι είναι ταγμένος στη λογική της καρδιάς που υπερτερεί με όπλα τις ηδονικές λαγνείες και τον ανήθικο παροξυσμό παραλύοντας κάθε νευρική απόληξη εγκεφαλικής λειτουργείας εκπορευόμενη απο τα «πρέπει» και τα «ηθικοπλαστικά γραπτά της καθωσπρέπει υπουκουλτούρας των θεσμών και των νόμων».
Όταν απο λαχτάρα και πόθο, απο ζήλεια και πάθος αυτή πάλλεται απο χτυπήματα τσεκουριού σε καρδιακούς χτύπους και ξέφρενους ρυθμούς εκκωφαντικής συναυλίας, ενός μουσικού έργου που ενώνει τα όργανα της ορχήστρας σε απόλυτη συμφωνική συγχορδία,
σε μεγαλειώδη και πρωτάκουστη κάθε φορά μελωδία.
Και αποτυγχάνει παταγωδώς η συναυλία αν δεν ολοκληρωθεί με την ένωση των δυο κορμιών, των δυο απονενοημένων ψυχών σε ένα αυτούσιο, υπερκόσμιο επαναστατικό συλλαλητήριο που χρειάζεται μόνο κάποια ιδιαίτερη προσπάθεια της νόησης και της βουλητικής δύναμης για να αναγνωρίσουν τον εγκληματικό χαρακτήρα της πράξης και να αντισταθούν στις εγκληματικές παρορμήσεις.
Αυτό όμως είναι το ελάχιστο που μπορεί να απαιτήσει κάποιος απο τόσο επικίνδυνα πλάσματα.
Εραστές.
Σταματούν την αυτοάνοση ικανότητα της εισπνοής και εκπνοής σε ένα σώμα που αρνείται να καταδικαστεί στα μαρτύρια του παροξυσμού που οδηγούν στην υπερτέλεια απόλαυση του επαίσχυντου και στοιχειωτικού παραληρήματος του τρομοκράτη που τους οδηγεί στα δικαστικά μέτρα συμμόρφωσης.
Εδώ τα δικαστήρια είναι μουχλιασμένα υπόγεια όπου η απαγορευτική σοφία των προγόνων μας φυλάγεται σε μπουκάλια. Τα ανοίγει η κοινωνική και θεσμική τάξη και σου έρχεται να βάλεις τα κλάματα βλέποντας πόσο απαίσια γεύση έχει ο υψηλότερος, ο πιο ζυμωμένος βαθμός ανθρώπινης επιδίωξης της θετικής γνώμης και της αποδοχής πριν να τελειοποιηθεί.
Κι όμως μεθά την μάζα που δεν έχει σκληραγωγηθεί και ο έρωτας που έχει παρακολουθήσει επι μακρόν τις αναλύσεις των νομομαθών δεν ξεχνά ποτέ τη δική του αποστολή.
Έστω κι αν πρόκειται για φυσικά ή μεταφυσικά φαινόμενα λατρείας, αυτός πάντα επιμένει και πάντα αντιπαρέρχεται τα πάντα, ακόμη και τον μεταλλικό ήχο που κάνουν τα φτερά του θανάτου όταν διπλώνουν και αυτός συμπεριφέρεται ως έφεδρος άγγελος της ανθρωπιστικής επιστήμης.
( Δάσκαλε Μούζιλ, πόσα σου χρωστάω, σε ευχαριστώ!...).
📚📚🎈🎈🤓
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
Στα τέλη του 1923 ο πολλά υποσχόμενος νέος συγγραφέας προσβλήθηκε από τυφοειδή πυρετό. Στις 9 Δεκεμβρίου είπε στον Κοκτώ : «Σε τρεις μέρες θα με τουφεκίσουν οι στρατιώτες του Θεού», και στις 12 Δεκεμβρίου πέθανε”.
«Με τον διάβολο στο κορμί»
Μια μικρή ιστοριούλα παρωχημένη και διαχρονική, μια εγκωμιαστική νεκρολογία στον αταίριαστο, τον απαγορευμένο, τον παράνομο, τον ντροπιαστικό και σκανδαλώδη έρωτα ανάμεσα σε έναν ανήλικο άνδρα και μια παντρεμένη γυναίκα λίγο μεγαλύτερη του, κατά τη διάρκεια του ΆΠΠ.
Μα, γίνεται να αποδώσεις τόσο βίαια και απερίσκεπτα τα παραπάνω χαρακτηριστικά στην έξαρση του σώματος και του πνεύματος, στην ηδονική έκσταση των αισθήσεων και του ασταμάτητου ψυχικού βασανιστηρίου που επιφέρει πάντα ο έρωτας ;
Αυτός, που δεν σκέφτεται με λογική διότι είναι ταγμένος στη λογική της καρδιάς που υπερτερεί με όπλα τις ηδονικές λαγνείες και τον ανήθικο παροξυσμό παραλύοντας κάθε νευρική απόληξη εγκεφαλικής λειτουργείας εκπορευόμενη απο τα «πρέπει» και τα «ηθικοπλαστικά γραπτά της καθωσπρέπει υπουκουλτούρας των θεσμών και των νόμων».
Όταν απο λαχτάρα και πόθο, απο ζήλεια και πάθος αυτή πάλλεται απο χτυπήματα τσεκουριού σε καρδιακούς χτύπους και ξέφρενους ρυθμούς εκκωφαντικής συναυλίας, ενός μουσικού έργου που ενώνει τα όργανα της ορχήστρας σε απόλυτη συμφωνική συγχορδία,
σε μεγαλειώδη και πρωτάκουστη κάθε φορά μελωδία.
Και αποτυγχάνει παταγωδώς η συναυλία αν δεν ολοκληρωθεί με την ένωση των δυο κορμιών, των δυο απονενοημένων ψυχών σε ένα αυτούσιο, υπερκόσμιο επαναστατικό συλλαλητήριο που χρειάζεται μόνο κάποια ιδιαίτερη προσπάθεια της νόησης και της βουλητικής δύναμης για να αναγνωρίσουν τον εγκληματικό χαρακτήρα της πράξης και να αντισταθούν στις εγκληματικές παρορμήσεις.
Αυτό όμως είναι το ελάχιστο που μπορεί να απαιτήσει κάποιος απο τόσο επικίνδυνα πλάσματα.
Εραστές.
Σταματούν την αυτοάνοση ικανότητα της εισπνοής και εκπνοής σε ένα σώμα που αρνείται να καταδικαστεί στα μαρτύρια του παροξυσμού που οδηγούν στην υπερτέλεια απόλαυση του επαίσχυντου και στοιχειωτικού παραληρήματος του τρομοκράτη που τους οδηγεί στα δικαστικά μέτρα συμμόρφωσης.
Εδώ τα δικαστήρια είναι μουχλιασμένα υπόγεια όπου η απαγορευτική σοφία των προγόνων μας φυλάγεται σε μπουκάλια. Τα ανοίγει η κοινωνική και θεσμική τάξη και σου έρχεται να βάλεις τα κλάματα βλέποντας πόσο απαίσια γεύση έχει ο υψηλότερος, ο πιο ζυμωμένος βαθμός ανθρώπινης επιδίωξης της θετικής γνώμης και της αποδοχής πριν να τελειοποιηθεί.
Κι όμως μεθά την μάζα που δεν έχει σκληραγωγηθεί και ο έρωτας που έχει παρακολουθήσει επι μακρόν τις αναλύσεις των νομομαθών δεν ξεχνά ποτέ τη δική του αποστολή.
Έστω κι αν πρόκειται για φυσικά ή μεταφυσικά φαινόμενα λατρείας, αυτός πάντα επιμένει και πάντα αντιπαρέρχεται τα πάντα, ακόμη και τον μεταλλικό ήχο που κάνουν τα φτερά του θανάτου όταν διπλώνουν και αυτός συμπεριφέρεται ως έφεδρος άγγελος της ανθρωπιστικής επιστήμης.
( Δάσκαλε Μούζιλ, πόσα σου χρωστάω, σε ευχαριστώ!...).
📚📚🎈🎈🤓
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
May 4, 2016
[Grey exterior, early morning. RADIGUET is bent over the motionless form of MARTHE. Enter the SASSY GAY FRIEND]
SGF: Marthe is about to die a horrible death because of the callous neglect of her lover, Radiguet. Marthe, what, what, WHAT are you -
RADIGUET: You're too late. She's gone.
SGF: [looking at watch] Are we on European time? I'm such a stupid bitch!
RADIGUET: I'm afraid so.
SGF: Well... no point wasting a trip. Let me come in again.
[The scene rewinds and he comes in again, Spanish Inquisition style]
SGF: Raymond Radiguet is about to kill himself because of the dreadful guilt he feels for having caused the death of his lover, Marthe. This fate could have been avoided if he had had a Sassy Gay-
RADIGUET: I'm not going to kill myself.
SGF: [taken aback] You're not?
RADIGUET: And I've already got a sassy gay friend. I'm going to go and see Jean Cocteau and let him suck my dick until I feel better.
SGF: You big slut! Good for you!
[They high-five and do a little dance]
RADIGUET: Then Jean is going to help me write it up as a novel. It'll be cutting-edge. He figures he can arrange for me to get a prize or something. He's got connections. And cute pecs.
SGF: And after that?
RADIGUET: Oh, then I'm going to die of typhoid fever at the age of 20 and become a minor literary legend.
SGF: So you don't need my help?
RADIGUET: I've got it all planned out. Sorry.
SGF: [floundering] Ah... ah... you wouldn't know where the Bovarys live?
RADIGUET: Yonville is that way.
[He points and exits right. The SASSY GAY FRIEND is left standing next to MARTHE's corpse]
SGF: Okay. Okay. Still haven't figured out the French. Need to get my lines ready for the next one.
[Visibly pulls himself together, then tosses scarf over shoulder in trademark gesture]
SGF: Emma Bovary is about to eat arsenic. Emma, what, what, WHAT are you-
December 9, 2016
Two days ago, I read this novel. Did I like it? Quite frankly, I loved it. I just couldn't put this novel down. I must have read it an hour or so. I got up a bit more earlier that morning so I had time to read it with my morning coffee (it is not a very long novel but still it is amazing how easy it was to find one's self glued to those pages- and I was glued to them! I mean that in a nice way for it was a good feeling being so lost in the story). What a beautiful and unique piece of writing it is! The Devil in the Flesh was (for me) one of those pleasant surprises that life sometimes offers. It made my day better! You know when you pick up a novel from your shelf that you didn’t notice before and as soon as you start reading you get immersed into it? That was the case with this one.
Le Diable au corps (translated as The Devil In the Flesh) is a novel that Raymond Radiquet wrote as a teenager. Let nobody told you that you’re too young to write! Yes, you can feel his age in the novel- but it doesn’t take anything from the novel, if anything it makes it more realistic. I think novels like this prove that one is never too young to write. Naturally, I thought of Sagan, another French writer, who made her debut quite early as well. I think that Sagan was about the same age when she wrote Bonjour Trieste as Raymond when he wrote The Devil in the Flesh. While I liked Sagan’s debut novel, I was even more enchanted by her latter works. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to say the same about Raymond because he died young. He did write others things besides this novel and I plan to track them down but his opus is rather limited. Unfortunately, Raymond didn’t live to write many other works.
Believe it or not, this was by first book by this French writer. I don't think I even heard of Raymond before, which is odd because I love French literature, but well, it happens. In his time, Raymond was quite a celebrity and he is still considered as one of the important French writers of that period. He moved in the modernist circles and supposedly he was friends with Picasso, Max Jacob, Jean Hugo and Jean Cocetou. He was even painted by Modigliani. Huxley praised his writing. So, even that young he was quite well known.
I did some research about Raymond right after I had finished the book. It was probably because I loved the book so much that I had this need to know more about the author. It turns out that the story is quite autobiographical ( I will talk about the story in a bit, just bear with me for a while). Raymond was born in 1903 and died in 1923, when he was only 20 years old. Isn’t that sad? I suppose that we can be cynical and say that his premature departure might have had something to do with the high sales of this novel, but if this book is anything to go by, he really was an amazingly talented writer. The success of the book really doesn’t have anything to do with his death. I think we can be reasonably sure that he would have written many more great books, if only he has lived a bit longer.
This novel tells a story about a sixteen-year-old boy (or young man) that falls in love and has an affair with a married woman (who is nineteen herself so in a way she is still a girl too). The two met before she is married and take a liking to one another. The boy is slight narcosis, quite aware of his good looks. Upon meeting the girl, he immediately tries to win her over. It seems like a game to him, but there is this feeling he is compelled to do it. For all his seeming confidence, he is quite insecure and unsure of himself. In this sense, he reminds me of a protagonist of Stendhal The Red And The Black. Like in that novel, here we have a young man who by trying to prove his own courage to himself manages to charm a woman. In addition, in both novels these young men end up developing strong romantic feelings for woman in question. I can certainly see parallels between these two novels, but they do not take anything from the originality of this novel.
The story of this novel is set in the time of the first world war and it was published shortly after it. It caused a scandal when it was published, which makes me think of Sagan once again. However, I doubt that this novel would raise any eyebrows today. It is not exactly a reversed Lolita. Yes, the young man is only sixteen but the married woman is only slightly older than him. She loses her virginity only weeks before he does (with her), so there is no sense of sexual predatory that could make someone uncomfortable. However, the novel doesn’t try to present their relationship in idolized terms. It focuses on the sincerity of their emotion, but it is evident that their relationship comes with a price- for both.
The protagonist does feel like a teenager and you can understand his point of view. He is in love but clueless as what to do about it. He is haunted by selfishness of the youth, but at the same time he experiences love for the first time- and who is to say that his first love is not a true one? I really liked the love story this novel explores, even if it is not an unorthodox one- and perhaps precisely because it is so unusual. Our love birds are flawed, but all the more real for their flaws. The sexual dimension is a part of this romantic relationship. However, there are no explicit or graphic scenes in the novel- none what so ever. However, the novel does talk about adultery quite openly. It doesn’t glorify it, though, it just doesn’t talk about adultery from a moralist point of you. Is it a bit reminiscent of Anna Karenina with its theme of a married woman falling in love and defying the society in the process? I would say yes; the female protagonist does make me think of Anna for more reasons than one. She is so brave and determinant. I actually loved all the characters in this novel, they were so well portrayed. To conclude, I do recommend this novel. It is such a delicate and unique love story!
Le Diable au corps (translated as The Devil In the Flesh) is a novel that Raymond Radiquet wrote as a teenager. Let nobody told you that you’re too young to write! Yes, you can feel his age in the novel- but it doesn’t take anything from the novel, if anything it makes it more realistic. I think novels like this prove that one is never too young to write. Naturally, I thought of Sagan, another French writer, who made her debut quite early as well. I think that Sagan was about the same age when she wrote Bonjour Trieste as Raymond when he wrote The Devil in the Flesh. While I liked Sagan’s debut novel, I was even more enchanted by her latter works. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to say the same about Raymond because he died young. He did write others things besides this novel and I plan to track them down but his opus is rather limited. Unfortunately, Raymond didn’t live to write many other works.
Believe it or not, this was by first book by this French writer. I don't think I even heard of Raymond before, which is odd because I love French literature, but well, it happens. In his time, Raymond was quite a celebrity and he is still considered as one of the important French writers of that period. He moved in the modernist circles and supposedly he was friends with Picasso, Max Jacob, Jean Hugo and Jean Cocetou. He was even painted by Modigliani. Huxley praised his writing. So, even that young he was quite well known.
I did some research about Raymond right after I had finished the book. It was probably because I loved the book so much that I had this need to know more about the author. It turns out that the story is quite autobiographical ( I will talk about the story in a bit, just bear with me for a while). Raymond was born in 1903 and died in 1923, when he was only 20 years old. Isn’t that sad? I suppose that we can be cynical and say that his premature departure might have had something to do with the high sales of this novel, but if this book is anything to go by, he really was an amazingly talented writer. The success of the book really doesn’t have anything to do with his death. I think we can be reasonably sure that he would have written many more great books, if only he has lived a bit longer.
This novel tells a story about a sixteen-year-old boy (or young man) that falls in love and has an affair with a married woman (who is nineteen herself so in a way she is still a girl too). The two met before she is married and take a liking to one another. The boy is slight narcosis, quite aware of his good looks. Upon meeting the girl, he immediately tries to win her over. It seems like a game to him, but there is this feeling he is compelled to do it. For all his seeming confidence, he is quite insecure and unsure of himself. In this sense, he reminds me of a protagonist of Stendhal The Red And The Black. Like in that novel, here we have a young man who by trying to prove his own courage to himself manages to charm a woman. In addition, in both novels these young men end up developing strong romantic feelings for woman in question. I can certainly see parallels between these two novels, but they do not take anything from the originality of this novel.
The story of this novel is set in the time of the first world war and it was published shortly after it. It caused a scandal when it was published, which makes me think of Sagan once again. However, I doubt that this novel would raise any eyebrows today. It is not exactly a reversed Lolita. Yes, the young man is only sixteen but the married woman is only slightly older than him. She loses her virginity only weeks before he does (with her), so there is no sense of sexual predatory that could make someone uncomfortable. However, the novel doesn’t try to present their relationship in idolized terms. It focuses on the sincerity of their emotion, but it is evident that their relationship comes with a price- for both.
The protagonist does feel like a teenager and you can understand his point of view. He is in love but clueless as what to do about it. He is haunted by selfishness of the youth, but at the same time he experiences love for the first time- and who is to say that his first love is not a true one? I really liked the love story this novel explores, even if it is not an unorthodox one- and perhaps precisely because it is so unusual. Our love birds are flawed, but all the more real for their flaws. The sexual dimension is a part of this romantic relationship. However, there are no explicit or graphic scenes in the novel- none what so ever. However, the novel does talk about adultery quite openly. It doesn’t glorify it, though, it just doesn’t talk about adultery from a moralist point of you. Is it a bit reminiscent of Anna Karenina with its theme of a married woman falling in love and defying the society in the process? I would say yes; the female protagonist does make me think of Anna for more reasons than one. She is so brave and determinant. I actually loved all the characters in this novel, they were so well portrayed. To conclude, I do recommend this novel. It is such a delicate and unique love story!
March 12, 2022
"Éramos igual que unos niños subidos a una silla, orgullosos de ser más altos que los mayores"
Esta obra fue muy encomiada en su tiempo y a la vez denostada. Encomiada por su estilo, la facilidad de manejo del tema y los recuerdos de infancia, así como también por la edad del escritor, fue escrita esta obra cuando Radiguet tenía 17 años y la publicación por la editorial Grasset siendo tan joven fue motivo para publicitar el apodo de "nuevo Rimbaud". Tuvo así mismo el apoyo de Cocteau. Denostada por el tema que trataba, una relación a todas luces inmoral y hasta pederastia si se quiere llamarlo así.
Como el tema principal trata de esto es necesario hablar con spoilers de ahora en adelante. En sí nos cuenta la historia de amor del narrador en primera persona y Marthe, una joven mayor que él por unos 4 años. Ella es mayor de edad y él aún menor de edad. La historia por lo tanto es bastante juvenil y el libro es casi recuerdos de esa época. Un tema muy frecuentado por los escritores de la post guerra (Primera guerra mundial) y que quizás luego se volvió costumbre de hablar de experiencias juveniles, de los primeros despertares en el amor y la sexualidad.
La acción transcurre en ciudades a orillas del Marne y hay algunos cuadros de los distintos sitios donde el autor y sus cercanos pasan que no me terminó por maravillar. El libro está en primera persona pero el narrador ya tiene la "experiencia" para poder hablar del pasado con ojo crítico, aunque solo tenía 17 años en realidad y eso en parte me hace pensar que quizás sus afirmaciones son solo formalismos quizás para no chocar con la moral de la época.
La historia y los sucesos en sí son bastante comunes y hasta triviales. Marthe a pesar de un primer vistazo con el protagonista que los tocará a ambos ya estaba comprometida con Jacques, un soldado que está en la línea del frente, sin embargo luego de su matrimonio y en vista que Jacques pasa mucho tiempo en la Gran guerra tendrá el tiempo para poder entablar una relación con el protagonista. En este caso la guerra solo sirve de espacio temporal para delimitar y por un momento tener en cauce la relación de los dos protagonistas. Cuando se acabe la guerra ambos dan casi por sentado que todo entre ellos se acabará.
El protagonista tiene una familia acomodada y sobre todo "burguesa", que respeta las reglas de la sociedad y que ve con malos ojos que el primogénito de la familia tan joven eche por la borda su vida en una relación con una mujer casada. Por otro lado Marthe se nos pinta realmente como una mujer muy sacrificada, tanto así que por momentos parece casi no tener voz y es una pena que el autor le de tan poca cabida. Quizás la intención del autor fue más que todo narrar los cambios emocionales, mejor dicho la inmadurez del protagonista tan joven durante toda su relación.
"Me pregunto todavía si el amor da derecho a arrancar a una mujer de un destino quizá mediocre pero lleno de tranquilidad"
El protagonista pasa y vive todo lo de doloroso y malsano puede tener una relación tóxica e inmadura. Va desde la ternura hasta el maltrato, desde los celos hasta la crueldad, desde la compasión hasta el placer carnal. Quizás esta parte es la que más destaco pues las descripciones interiores y sobre todo de los "cambios histéricos" que tiene casi exclusivamente el protagonista varón están muy bien pintados y son muy sinceros. Para alguien que ha experimentado o visto relaciones así puede agradar la excelente manera de describirlos. Pero para una persona que no tiene experiencia o le repulsa ese tipo de relaciones muy probablemente el libro puede perder casi todo interés e incluso talento. Porque debo decirlo no reconozco un gran estilo en el autor ni me parece que es uno de esos grandes clásicos de la literatura universal. Pero vamos que tenía solo 17 años.
Tiene eso sí algunas buenas frases que hablan bien de lo que el autor hubiera podido alcanzar a una edad más madura. Como digo el autor no se guarda nada, describe cómo va corrompiéndole el placer carnal y el deseo de posesión que experimenta, cómo luego reclama a su amada hasta el haberse entregado a su propio marido. Ambos en realidad no son más que adolescentes enamorados casi desapercibidos de toda realidad. La relación en sí se vuelve un escándalo que irá minándolos poco a poco. Parece que ni siquiera Marthe recuerda a su esposo sacrificado y rechazado por ella misma, y además tiene un gran amor y deseo de darlo todo por su amado. Esto a veces se balancea en la historia y eso también le da un toque interesante. El hilo de la historia es atrapante sobre todo porque uno quiere conocer cómo acaba esta relación amorosa que por momentos es hundida o salvada por las circunstancias. Me llamó la atención también un poco el establecimiento de esta relación adúltera en la novela. He leído por supuesto muchas sobre el tema pero aquí se puede hablar de una "adaptación general" del adulterio. Pasando desde el joven que al inicio fascinado por poseer a su amor platónico se vuelve exigente y abusivo, la paciente esposa que pasa al frenesí del amor incontrolable, el padre que compasivo parece apoyar a su hijo, la madre que prefiere cerrar los ojos, los padres de Marthe que parecen confiarse mucho, la sociedad en fin con los vecinos mirones que están dispuestos a ir con el chisme por doquier, o los amigos que se alejan ante semejante escándalo.
El final sí me decepcionó pues me pareció una salida demasiado fácil que impide reflexionar o darle un final que aclare todo.
"Por muchas pasiones que experimente en el futuro, nunca podrán igualarse a aquella adorable emoción de ver llorar a una joven de diecinueve años porque se encontraba demasiado vieja"
Esta obra fue muy encomiada en su tiempo y a la vez denostada. Encomiada por su estilo, la facilidad de manejo del tema y los recuerdos de infancia, así como también por la edad del escritor, fue escrita esta obra cuando Radiguet tenía 17 años y la publicación por la editorial Grasset siendo tan joven fue motivo para publicitar el apodo de "nuevo Rimbaud". Tuvo así mismo el apoyo de Cocteau. Denostada por el tema que trataba, una relación a todas luces inmoral y hasta pederastia si se quiere llamarlo así.
Como el tema principal trata de esto es necesario hablar con spoilers de ahora en adelante. En sí nos cuenta la historia de amor del narrador en primera persona y Marthe, una joven mayor que él por unos 4 años. Ella es mayor de edad y él aún menor de edad. La historia por lo tanto es bastante juvenil y el libro es casi recuerdos de esa época. Un tema muy frecuentado por los escritores de la post guerra (Primera guerra mundial) y que quizás luego se volvió costumbre de hablar de experiencias juveniles, de los primeros despertares en el amor y la sexualidad.
La acción transcurre en ciudades a orillas del Marne y hay algunos cuadros de los distintos sitios donde el autor y sus cercanos pasan que no me terminó por maravillar. El libro está en primera persona pero el narrador ya tiene la "experiencia" para poder hablar del pasado con ojo crítico, aunque solo tenía 17 años en realidad y eso en parte me hace pensar que quizás sus afirmaciones son solo formalismos quizás para no chocar con la moral de la época.
La historia y los sucesos en sí son bastante comunes y hasta triviales. Marthe a pesar de un primer vistazo con el protagonista que los tocará a ambos ya estaba comprometida con Jacques, un soldado que está en la línea del frente, sin embargo luego de su matrimonio y en vista que Jacques pasa mucho tiempo en la Gran guerra tendrá el tiempo para poder entablar una relación con el protagonista. En este caso la guerra solo sirve de espacio temporal para delimitar y por un momento tener en cauce la relación de los dos protagonistas. Cuando se acabe la guerra ambos dan casi por sentado que todo entre ellos se acabará.
El protagonista tiene una familia acomodada y sobre todo "burguesa", que respeta las reglas de la sociedad y que ve con malos ojos que el primogénito de la familia tan joven eche por la borda su vida en una relación con una mujer casada. Por otro lado Marthe se nos pinta realmente como una mujer muy sacrificada, tanto así que por momentos parece casi no tener voz y es una pena que el autor le de tan poca cabida. Quizás la intención del autor fue más que todo narrar los cambios emocionales, mejor dicho la inmadurez del protagonista tan joven durante toda su relación.
"Me pregunto todavía si el amor da derecho a arrancar a una mujer de un destino quizá mediocre pero lleno de tranquilidad"
El protagonista pasa y vive todo lo de doloroso y malsano puede tener una relación tóxica e inmadura. Va desde la ternura hasta el maltrato, desde los celos hasta la crueldad, desde la compasión hasta el placer carnal. Quizás esta parte es la que más destaco pues las descripciones interiores y sobre todo de los "cambios histéricos" que tiene casi exclusivamente el protagonista varón están muy bien pintados y son muy sinceros. Para alguien que ha experimentado o visto relaciones así puede agradar la excelente manera de describirlos. Pero para una persona que no tiene experiencia o le repulsa ese tipo de relaciones muy probablemente el libro puede perder casi todo interés e incluso talento. Porque debo decirlo no reconozco un gran estilo en el autor ni me parece que es uno de esos grandes clásicos de la literatura universal. Pero vamos que tenía solo 17 años.
Tiene eso sí algunas buenas frases que hablan bien de lo que el autor hubiera podido alcanzar a una edad más madura. Como digo el autor no se guarda nada, describe cómo va corrompiéndole el placer carnal y el deseo de posesión que experimenta, cómo luego reclama a su amada hasta el haberse entregado a su propio marido. Ambos en realidad no son más que adolescentes enamorados casi desapercibidos de toda realidad. La relación en sí se vuelve un escándalo que irá minándolos poco a poco. Parece que ni siquiera Marthe recuerda a su esposo sacrificado y rechazado por ella misma, y además tiene un gran amor y deseo de darlo todo por su amado. Esto a veces se balancea en la historia y eso también le da un toque interesante. El hilo de la historia es atrapante sobre todo porque uno quiere conocer cómo acaba esta relación amorosa que por momentos es hundida o salvada por las circunstancias. Me llamó la atención también un poco el establecimiento de esta relación adúltera en la novela. He leído por supuesto muchas sobre el tema pero aquí se puede hablar de una "adaptación general" del adulterio. Pasando desde el joven que al inicio fascinado por poseer a su amor platónico se vuelve exigente y abusivo, la paciente esposa que pasa al frenesí del amor incontrolable, el padre que compasivo parece apoyar a su hijo, la madre que prefiere cerrar los ojos, los padres de Marthe que parecen confiarse mucho, la sociedad en fin con los vecinos mirones que están dispuestos a ir con el chisme por doquier, o los amigos que se alejan ante semejante escándalo.
El final sí me decepcionó pues me pareció una salida demasiado fácil que impide reflexionar o darle un final que aclare todo.
"Por muchas pasiones que experimente en el futuro, nunca podrán igualarse a aquella adorable emoción de ver llorar a una joven de diecinueve años porque se encontraba demasiado vieja"
October 3, 2017
La felicità è egoista
Il periodo è quello della prima guerra mondiale, durante il quale la maggior parte degli uomini è al fronte.
Lui è un ragazzino, ha dodici anni. Lei diciotto ed è sposata, ma il marito è a combattere. Iniziano a frequentarsi.
"La felicità è egoista", dice Radiguet, e infatti per rincorrere la felicità e le proprie sensazioni i due si dimenticano di tutto il resto, delle convenzioni, dell’età, degli impegni presi con altre persone. E tra loro sboccia il tipico amore impossibile.
Ovviamente, data la vetustà dei due amanti, quel diavolo in corpo non ha parvenze intellettuali, ma brutalmente fisiche. E trasforma questo "amore" in un insieme di sensazioni fatte di desiderio, di fisicità, di visceralità, di gelosie, di sguardi.
"A forza di vivere con l'idea fissa su un'unica cosa, bramandola ardentemente, non noti più il crimine dei tuoi desideri"
Passioni e ritrosie, attese e baci, sguardi e mani sfiorate. Descrizioni sensazionali se consideriamo l'anno di pubblicazione, cose da educande se confrontiamo con ciò che si scrive oggi, ovviamente.
“Il sapore del primo bacio mi aveva deluso come un frutto che si assaggia la prima volta. Non è nella novità, ma è nell’abitudine che si provano i piaceri più grandi. Qualche minuto dopo, non solo ero abituato alla bocca di Marthe, ma non potevo neanche più farne a meno”
Un amore immaturo che è costretto a trasformarsi e poi a concludersi per l'incombente figura del marito di lei e per la reazione della morale comune, offesa da questa relazione.
Un romanzo a mio parere interessante non in assoluto (non lo ritengo un libro fondamentale), ma più che altro per il contesto in cui è stato scritto e per l'età, 20 anni, in cui Raymond Radiguet lo scrisse; non può non colpire la profondità di alcune frasi e l'analisi psicologica dei personaggi da parte di un autore così giovane.
Chissà cosa avrebbe potuto scrivere se non fosse morto di lì a qualche mese.
August 29, 2018
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/Buk3nC_PCps
November 3, 2017
romanzo da una notte che in alcuni passi mi ha fatto venire in mente, estremizzando, quella battuta sui film a luci rosse. che per gli uomini sono bellissime storie d'amore da cui qualcuno ha tagliato tutte le parti noiose.
il narratore - anonimo, insicuro, volubile e quindicenne - è travolto in egual misura dalle contraddizioni della sua età e dalla passione per la diciottenne marthe, maritata e con legittimo consorte al fronte. radiguet sta così ostinatamente lontano dal romanticismo da riuscire, proprio per questo, a toccare il lettore dicendo bene i sentimenti ambivalenti che entrano in gioco in ogni relazione totalizzate. poi certo questa passione nel 1923 - anno in cui l'autore moriva e il romanzo veniva dato alle stampe - era scandalosa sotto diversi punti di vista, ma il morbo che la divora non sta fuori. si annida nel suo nucleo pulsante. non nelle convenzioni mandate all'aria e nei rischi corsi, ma nell'unico febbricitante modo in cui ci si può rendere conto se è «vero dunque che l'amore è la forma più violenta dell'egoismo».
in questo senso, il protagonista anticipa quel david axelroad che nel romanzo di scott spencer un amore senza fine si spingerà molto oltre sulla strada dell'ossessione.
martha my dear / you have always been my inspiration
https://youtu.be/xT4a5RYLBSw
3 stelle e mezzo (a radiguet. ai beatles di più)
il narratore - anonimo, insicuro, volubile e quindicenne - è travolto in egual misura dalle contraddizioni della sua età e dalla passione per la diciottenne marthe, maritata e con legittimo consorte al fronte. radiguet sta così ostinatamente lontano dal romanticismo da riuscire, proprio per questo, a toccare il lettore dicendo bene i sentimenti ambivalenti che entrano in gioco in ogni relazione totalizzate. poi certo questa passione nel 1923 - anno in cui l'autore moriva e il romanzo veniva dato alle stampe - era scandalosa sotto diversi punti di vista, ma il morbo che la divora non sta fuori. si annida nel suo nucleo pulsante. non nelle convenzioni mandate all'aria e nei rischi corsi, ma nell'unico febbricitante modo in cui ci si può rendere conto se è «vero dunque che l'amore è la forma più violenta dell'egoismo».
in questo senso, il protagonista anticipa quel david axelroad che nel romanzo di scott spencer un amore senza fine si spingerà molto oltre sulla strada dell'ossessione.
martha my dear / you have always been my inspiration
https://youtu.be/xT4a5RYLBSw
3 stelle e mezzo (a radiguet. ai beatles di più)
February 17, 2015
Il fuoco dentro
Sembra incredibile che nel cuore acerbo dell'io narrante del romanzo - "Coeur vert" fu il primo titolo dell'opera -, un ragazzo di appena sedici anni, possano trovare posto i tumulti amorosi, le passioni irrefrenabili, i turbamenti di un adulto già iniziato alle contraddizioni delle relazioni a due.
Eppure, Raymond Radiguet aveva solo diciotto anni quando lo scrisse, e se non fosse per quella collocazione temporale che lo inserisce in quella terra di nessuno in mezzo alle due guerre, quando tutta la gioventù francese sulla scia della Belle Époque e in preda all'euforia, non chiedeva altro che di lasciarsi vivere e trasportare dai sensi e dalla voluttà, se non fosse che l'autore stesso era destinato a morire giovanissimo e che forse era inconsapevolmente preda della smania di vivere tutto e subito, se non fosse che quel sentimento di gelosia puerile che affiora tra le pagine del romanzo riconsegni con sottile crudeltà il protagonista alla sua vera età, se non fosse tutto questo, anche la sua storia sembrerebbe incredibile.
Bello, letto in un soffio nell'ora in più.
«Approfittavo del suo falso sonno per respirare i suoi capelli, il suo collo, le sue gote scottanti, ma sfiorandole appena perché non si svegliasse; carezze che non sono, come si crede, gli spiccioli dell'amore, ma al contrario, il più raro dell'amore, e a cui solo la passione può ricorrere.»
Sembra incredibile che nel cuore acerbo dell'io narrante del romanzo - "Coeur vert" fu il primo titolo dell'opera -, un ragazzo di appena sedici anni, possano trovare posto i tumulti amorosi, le passioni irrefrenabili, i turbamenti di un adulto già iniziato alle contraddizioni delle relazioni a due.
Eppure, Raymond Radiguet aveva solo diciotto anni quando lo scrisse, e se non fosse per quella collocazione temporale che lo inserisce in quella terra di nessuno in mezzo alle due guerre, quando tutta la gioventù francese sulla scia della Belle Époque e in preda all'euforia, non chiedeva altro che di lasciarsi vivere e trasportare dai sensi e dalla voluttà, se non fosse che l'autore stesso era destinato a morire giovanissimo e che forse era inconsapevolmente preda della smania di vivere tutto e subito, se non fosse che quel sentimento di gelosia puerile che affiora tra le pagine del romanzo riconsegni con sottile crudeltà il protagonista alla sua vera età, se non fosse tutto questo, anche la sua storia sembrerebbe incredibile.
Bello, letto in un soffio nell'ora in più.
«Approfittavo del suo falso sonno per respirare i suoi capelli, il suo collo, le sue gote scottanti, ma sfiorandole appena perché non si svegliasse; carezze che non sono, come si crede, gli spiccioli dell'amore, ma al contrario, il più raro dell'amore, e a cui solo la passione può ricorrere.»
Read
August 12, 2020Sve drugo na stranu, ali naslovnica ovog izdanja zaslužuje da se nađe na nekoj listi najgorih YU omota knjiga. Prevod Maksa Erenrajha tj. Karla Ostojića/Maksimilijana Erenrajha Ostojića takođe je dosta aljkav, ali ni izbliza kriminalan kao korice.
Što se samog romana tiče, stvari ipak stoje drugačije tj. mnogo bolje. Radigeov roman vrlo jasno pripada tradiciji francuskog psihološkog romana koja vuče korene još od Princeze de Klev a najkasnije Benžamena Konstana: drugim rečima, do u sitna crevca se secira neki odnos i svaki njegov psihološki treptaj ili potez u igri šaha među ljubavnicima. Takva opsesivna usredsređenost na detalje i postupnost razvijanja nekog odnosa može brzo da dosadi pa je Radige mudro, u skladu s temom (i sopstvenom mladošću) napisao vrlo kratak roman o vezi dečaka od petnaest godina i (već udate) devetnaestogodišnjakinje čiji je muž na frontu.
Glavni utisak pri čitanju ovog romana jeste... kako to formulisati... smišljeni i precizno raspoređeni bezobrazluk autora/naratora. Počev od nonšalantne izjave da je za njega rat bio veliki raspust od četiri godine (a rat u tom trenutku tek što se završio i sve je bilo vrlo sveže) preko izbora teme i vrlo otvorenog (za ono doba) pristupa seksualnosti i erotskim scenama pa do postojanog izokretanja uloga: iako je devojka/mlada žena starija i sa većom odgovornošću, ipak narator ne ostavlja nikakvu sumnju u to da njihovom vezom upravlja on, i da često pušta na volju svojim sadističkim impulsima. Na mahove su ti impulsi istovremeno i vrlo detinjasti, kao kad se žali što mu prilikom (jednog od) raskida ona ne preti samoubistvom "makar iz učtivosti". Radige zaista neočekivano uspešno i razoružavajuće iskreno beleži i najniže i najkomičnije porive svog junaka, ne libeći se da prikaže adolescenciju u njenom punom i postiđujućem emo sjaju. Otvoreno je pitanje šta bi uradio da je poživeo više od dvadeset godina i da li bi ikad nadišao svoj prvenac.
Možda najlepša scena u koju su uključeni i drugi akteri osim dvoje ljubavnika jeste ona kad matore komšije s donjeg sprata, koje mesecima svakodnevno prisluškuju njihove bučne ljubavne sastanke i zgražavaju se, prirede sedeljku sa kolačima i šlagom (za vreme ratnih restrikcija! za šlag im je bila neophodna posebna dozvola!) da bi se i ostali komšiluk zgražavao i uživao. A ovo dvoje saznaju o čemu se radi i za inat celu sedeljku provedu tiho i čedno i potpuno upropaste komšijsku reputaciju. I u toj sceni u kojoj se sastaju i erotika i malograđanština i voajerizam i čista, ovejana pakost, sadržan je ceo Radige.
Što se samog romana tiče, stvari ipak stoje drugačije tj. mnogo bolje. Radigeov roman vrlo jasno pripada tradiciji francuskog psihološkog romana koja vuče korene još od Princeze de Klev a najkasnije Benžamena Konstana: drugim rečima, do u sitna crevca se secira neki odnos i svaki njegov psihološki treptaj ili potez u igri šaha među ljubavnicima. Takva opsesivna usredsređenost na detalje i postupnost razvijanja nekog odnosa može brzo da dosadi pa je Radige mudro, u skladu s temom (i sopstvenom mladošću) napisao vrlo kratak roman o vezi dečaka od petnaest godina i (već udate) devetnaestogodišnjakinje čiji je muž na frontu.
Glavni utisak pri čitanju ovog romana jeste... kako to formulisati... smišljeni i precizno raspoređeni bezobrazluk autora/naratora. Počev od nonšalantne izjave da je za njega rat bio veliki raspust od četiri godine (a rat u tom trenutku tek što se završio i sve je bilo vrlo sveže) preko izbora teme i vrlo otvorenog (za ono doba) pristupa seksualnosti i erotskim scenama pa do postojanog izokretanja uloga: iako je devojka/mlada žena starija i sa većom odgovornošću, ipak narator ne ostavlja nikakvu sumnju u to da njihovom vezom upravlja on, i da često pušta na volju svojim sadističkim impulsima. Na mahove su ti impulsi istovremeno i vrlo detinjasti, kao kad se žali što mu prilikom (jednog od) raskida ona ne preti samoubistvom "makar iz učtivosti". Radige zaista neočekivano uspešno i razoružavajuće iskreno beleži i najniže i najkomičnije porive svog junaka, ne libeći se da prikaže adolescenciju u njenom punom i postiđujućem emo sjaju. Otvoreno je pitanje šta bi uradio da je poživeo više od dvadeset godina i da li bi ikad nadišao svoj prvenac.
Možda najlepša scena u koju su uključeni i drugi akteri osim dvoje ljubavnika jeste ona kad matore komšije s donjeg sprata, koje mesecima svakodnevno prisluškuju njihove bučne ljubavne sastanke i zgražavaju se, prirede sedeljku sa kolačima i šlagom (za vreme ratnih restrikcija! za šlag im je bila neophodna posebna dozvola!) da bi se i ostali komšiluk zgražavao i uživao. A ovo dvoje saznaju o čemu se radi i za inat celu sedeljku provedu tiho i čedno i potpuno upropaste komšijsku reputaciju. I u toj sceni u kojoj se sastaju i erotika i malograđanština i voajerizam i čista, ovejana pakost, sadržan je ceo Radige.
August 31, 2022
Πάντα μου φαινόταν συναρπαστικά αλλόκοτο το πώς δύο άγνωστοι καταλήγουν εραστές.
Συχνά είναι τόσο σύντομο το χρονικό διάστημα ανάμεσα στις δύο κατά τα φαινόμενα μακρινές θέσεις ‘ξένος’ και ‘εραστής’, που σίγουρα είναι μια συναρπαστική σκέψη, το τι τους σπρώχνει κοντά, περί τίνος πρόκειται το μεταξύ τους και από πού πηγάζει αυτή η έλξη. Το σημείο μηδέν, μέχρι το σημείο του έρωτα. Είναι τόσο υπαρκτό και ταυτόχρονα ανύπαρκτο που θα μπορούσε να φέρει αμηχανία – υποθέτω φέρνει αμηχανία – όταν μάλιστα συμφωνούν και δηλώνουν ερωτευμένοι, ερχόμενοι γυμνοί, πολύ κοντά, σε απόσταση αναπνοής, ο ένας δίπλα στον άλλον, θαρρείς πως ήταν από πάντα εκεί.
Δεν είμαι καθόλου σίγουρη τι κάνει ένα βιβλίο σημαντικό, ωστόσο ο εικοσάχρονος Ραντιγκέ μας άφησε μόλις με δύο βιβλία. Μάλιστα αφού έγραψε το ‘Ο διάβολος στο κορμί’, έφυγε από τυφοειδή πυρετό. Πρόκειται για μια σύντομη αλλά εκρηκτική αφήγηση που δεν αργεί να πατήσει στα πόδια της, όταν ο Α’ΠΠ ευνόησε έναν παράνομο και ντροπιαστικό έρωτα, ανάμεσα σε έναν 16χρονο μαθητή και την δεκαεννιάχρονη Μάρθα, η οποία ήταν παντρεμένη με στρατιώτη που υπηρετούσε. Βέβαια, εάν μου κόβει έστω και λίγο, θα κάνω λίγο πέρα την αδύναμη φωνή μου και θα αφήσω χώρο για κάτι σαφώς καλύτερο:
Ο νεαρός εξηγεί γιατί θα ήθελε να ζήσουν στη Μαντρ, πόλη γνωστή για την καλλιέργεια των τριαντάφυλλων: «Στην αποβάθρα του σταθμού οι εργάτες ξεφόρτωναν τεράστια κιβώτια που σκόρπιζαν ευωδιά. Είχα ακούσει όταν ήμουν μικρός να μιλούν για εκείνο το μυστηριώδες τρένο με τα τριαντάφυλλα που περνά την ώρα που τα παιδιά κοιμούνται». Η Μάρθα του απαντάει: «Τα τριαντάφυλλα ανθίζουν μονάχα μια εποχή. Μετά δε φοβάσαι μήπως η Μαντρ μας φανεί άσχημη; Δεν είναι πιο λογικό να διαλέξουμε ένας μέρος λιγότερο ωραίο αλλά με μια ομορφιά που διαρκεί όλο το χρόνο;» Και ο ήρωας προσθέτει μέσα στο μυαλό του: «Σε αυτά τα λόγια αναγνώριζα τον εαυτό μου. Η επιθυμία ν’ απολαμβάνω για δύο μήνες τα τριαντάφυλλα μ’ έκανε να ξεχνάω τους άλλους δέκα. Το γεγονός ότι είχα επιλέξει τη Μαντρ αποδείκνυε γι’ ακόμα μια φορά πόσο εφήμερος ήταν ο έρωτάς μας».
Συχνά είναι τόσο σύντομο το χρονικό διάστημα ανάμεσα στις δύο κατά τα φαινόμενα μακρινές θέσεις ‘ξένος’ και ‘εραστής’, που σίγουρα είναι μια συναρπαστική σκέψη, το τι τους σπρώχνει κοντά, περί τίνος πρόκειται το μεταξύ τους και από πού πηγάζει αυτή η έλξη. Το σημείο μηδέν, μέχρι το σημείο του έρωτα. Είναι τόσο υπαρκτό και ταυτόχρονα ανύπαρκτο που θα μπορούσε να φέρει αμηχανία – υποθέτω φέρνει αμηχανία – όταν μάλιστα συμφωνούν και δηλώνουν ερωτευμένοι, ερχόμενοι γυμνοί, πολύ κοντά, σε απόσταση αναπνοής, ο ένας δίπλα στον άλλον, θαρρείς πως ήταν από πάντα εκεί.
Δεν είμαι καθόλου σίγουρη τι κάνει ένα βιβλίο σημαντικό, ωστόσο ο εικοσάχρονος Ραντιγκέ μας άφησε μόλις με δύο βιβλία. Μάλιστα αφού έγραψε το ‘Ο διάβολος στο κορμί’, έφυγε από τυφοειδή πυρετό. Πρόκειται για μια σύντομη αλλά εκρηκτική αφήγηση που δεν αργεί να πατήσει στα πόδια της, όταν ο Α’ΠΠ ευνόησε έναν παράνομο και ντροπιαστικό έρωτα, ανάμεσα σε έναν 16χρονο μαθητή και την δεκαεννιάχρονη Μάρθα, η οποία ήταν παντρεμένη με στρατιώτη που υπηρετούσε. Βέβαια, εάν μου κόβει έστω και λίγο, θα κάνω λίγο πέρα την αδύναμη φωνή μου και θα αφήσω χώρο για κάτι σαφώς καλύτερο:
Ο νεαρός εξηγεί γιατί θα ήθελε να ζήσουν στη Μαντρ, πόλη γνωστή για την καλλιέργεια των τριαντάφυλλων: «Στην αποβάθρα του σταθμού οι εργάτες ξεφόρτωναν τεράστια κιβώτια που σκόρπιζαν ευωδιά. Είχα ακούσει όταν ήμουν μικρός να μιλούν για εκείνο το μυστηριώδες τρένο με τα τριαντάφυλλα που περνά την ώρα που τα παιδιά κοιμούνται». Η Μάρθα του απαντάει: «Τα τριαντάφυλλα ανθίζουν μονάχα μια εποχή. Μετά δε φοβάσαι μήπως η Μαντρ μας φανεί άσχημη; Δεν είναι πιο λογικό να διαλέξουμε ένας μέρος λιγότερο ωραίο αλλά με μια ομορφιά που διαρκεί όλο το χρόνο;» Και ο ήρωας προσθέτει μέσα στο μυαλό του: «Σε αυτά τα λόγια αναγνώριζα τον εαυτό μου. Η επιθυμία ν’ απολαμβάνω για δύο μήνες τα τριαντάφυλλα μ’ έκανε να ξεχνάω τους άλλους δέκα. Το γεγονός ότι είχα επιλέξει τη Μαντρ αποδείκνυε γι’ ακόμα μια φορά πόσο εφήμερος ήταν ο έρωτάς μας».
September 7, 2017
"La felicità è egoista"
Non avrei certo rischiato di rimanere complessata se anche non avessi mai avuto tra le mani questo libro, ma era da almeno una decina d’anni che rincorrevo l’idea di leggerlo. Pertanto, mi sono tolta il capriccio rendendomi conto che, tutto sommato, “Il diavolo in corpo” di Raymond Radiguet non è poi quel gran romanzo peccaminoso che m’aveva fatto intendere, a questo punto ingannandomi, qualche breve trama o recensione letta in passato non ricordo neanche più dove. Il mio voto non riesce a spingersi oltre le tre stelle e mezzo.
Insomma, francamente, tutto questo diavolo in corpo non l’ho proprio trovato… Forse l’autore, che morì a soli vent’anni (che iella, proprio quando si godeva la fama grazie all’opera in questione!), temendo la scure implacabile della censura, si sarà limitato nel raccontare: visti i tempi (primi anni Venti del Novecento), la grandissima e incontenibile passione tra un ragazzino di quindici-sedici anni che si portava a letto una giovane signora (o era lei che era riuscita a portarselo a letto?), moglie di un soldato sbattuto al fronte della grande guerra, più “vecchia” di lui di circa tre anni, doveva apparire davvero scandalosa per la morale benpensante e ipocrita dell’epoca. Di certo, in sé la storia è molto triste, ma comunque mi sembra carente d’amore e colma invece dei capricci e dell’immaturità tipici dell’età di chi deve ancora crescere.
Non avrei certo rischiato di rimanere complessata se anche non avessi mai avuto tra le mani questo libro, ma era da almeno una decina d’anni che rincorrevo l’idea di leggerlo. Pertanto, mi sono tolta il capriccio rendendomi conto che, tutto sommato, “Il diavolo in corpo” di Raymond Radiguet non è poi quel gran romanzo peccaminoso che m’aveva fatto intendere, a questo punto ingannandomi, qualche breve trama o recensione letta in passato non ricordo neanche più dove. Il mio voto non riesce a spingersi oltre le tre stelle e mezzo.
Insomma, francamente, tutto questo diavolo in corpo non l’ho proprio trovato… Forse l’autore, che morì a soli vent’anni (che iella, proprio quando si godeva la fama grazie all’opera in questione!), temendo la scure implacabile della censura, si sarà limitato nel raccontare: visti i tempi (primi anni Venti del Novecento), la grandissima e incontenibile passione tra un ragazzino di quindici-sedici anni che si portava a letto una giovane signora (o era lei che era riuscita a portarselo a letto?), moglie di un soldato sbattuto al fronte della grande guerra, più “vecchia” di lui di circa tre anni, doveva apparire davvero scandalosa per la morale benpensante e ipocrita dell’epoca. Di certo, in sé la storia è molto triste, ma comunque mi sembra carente d’amore e colma invece dei capricci e dell’immaturità tipici dell’età di chi deve ancora crescere.
August 16, 2015
Radiquet was the literary prodigy and l'enfant terrible of the Post-WWI Parisian literary scene, who died in Dec. 1923 at the age of 20 from typhoid fever. Undoubtedly something of a genius, certainly a libertine, he was the object of a nearly cult-like adoration by Jean Cocteau, though he (Radiquet) seems to have had many heterosexual liaisons as well.
This book (a novella of only rapid 127 pages) was published a year before his death, at the age of 19. It is about an adultry of a 16 year-old boy with a slightly older married woman during the War. It shows a maturity that is quite astonishing.
My only criticism is that the translation, from 1968, should be redone, and the book republished in a sharper idiom.
Here is a portrait of Radiguet by Modigliani, made in 1915 - when Radiquet was only 12 or so
This book (a novella of only rapid 127 pages) was published a year before his death, at the age of 19. It is about an adultry of a 16 year-old boy with a slightly older married woman during the War. It shows a maturity that is quite astonishing.
My only criticism is that the translation, from 1968, should be redone, and the book republished in a sharper idiom.
Here is a portrait of Radiguet by Modigliani, made in 1915 - when Radiquet was only 12 or so
August 28, 2025
I felt like slapping the narrator a few times. But I must admit that this book has made me question youth and then question adulthood.
The setup is intriguing—a love affair between a teenager and an older woman set against the backdrop of the actual fighting at the forefront of World War I. The husband is in the front fighting, while the narrator and Jacques's wife are having love-making sessions in the husband's flat. Nothing graphic...
I wished it had been longer, as I couldn't engage with the characters as much as I wanted to.
The setup is intriguing—a love affair between a teenager and an older woman set against the backdrop of the actual fighting at the forefront of World War I. The husband is in the front fighting, while the narrator and Jacques's wife are having love-making sessions in the husband's flat. Nothing graphic...
I wished it had been longer, as I couldn't engage with the characters as much as I wanted to.
November 1, 2023
"Just as a bee plunders in order to enrich the hive, a lover enriches his love with every passing desire that besets him in the street. It is his mistress who benefits from this accumulation. "
‘The Devil in the Flesh’ is the story of an unnamed narrator who begins a tumultuous love affair at the age of 16 with a 20 year old married woman whose husband is away fighting at the front during WWI. The affair is soon discovered by family, friends and neighbours and naturally it can only end in tragedy.
The book is fairly short but it is also quite intense and well written. However, what made this more interesting for me was the back story to it. Radiguet was only 17 or 18 himself when he wrote it, a similar age as his two lead characters, and it is semi-autobiographical because he had a similar experience when he was only 14. This was a WWI novel yet the war is barely mentioned but it was first published when many of the wounds of that great conflict were still fresh. This was also Radiguet's first published novel, he wrote one more novel and a collection of poetry before he died at the age of 20 from typhoid.
The story is told in the first person and due to the minor age differences between his lead and himself Radiguet was able to capture the obsessive emotions of the narrator perfectly, and a the doomed relationship that slips from bliss to tragedy as it slides towards its devastating conclusion. The narrator is naïve and candid, amoral and callous yet the language displays a certain cynicism and innocence. The novel is still in print today, over a hundred years after it was first published showing that Radiguet could easily have become one of the great French literary masters had he lived longer. Yet his work is relatively unknown.
So why didn't I enjoy it more? The themes would be considered a lot less controversial today than they were when first published in France in 1923 and whilst I admire the writing style the story itself failed to really grip me. I also felt rather sorry for Marthe (the girl) and was somewhat confused as to whether or not the narrator really loved her or was she simply a living, breathing sex toy to him? As I said previously the author's own life intrigued me more.
‘The Devil in the Flesh’ is the story of an unnamed narrator who begins a tumultuous love affair at the age of 16 with a 20 year old married woman whose husband is away fighting at the front during WWI. The affair is soon discovered by family, friends and neighbours and naturally it can only end in tragedy.
The book is fairly short but it is also quite intense and well written. However, what made this more interesting for me was the back story to it. Radiguet was only 17 or 18 himself when he wrote it, a similar age as his two lead characters, and it is semi-autobiographical because he had a similar experience when he was only 14. This was a WWI novel yet the war is barely mentioned but it was first published when many of the wounds of that great conflict were still fresh. This was also Radiguet's first published novel, he wrote one more novel and a collection of poetry before he died at the age of 20 from typhoid.
The story is told in the first person and due to the minor age differences between his lead and himself Radiguet was able to capture the obsessive emotions of the narrator perfectly, and a the doomed relationship that slips from bliss to tragedy as it slides towards its devastating conclusion. The narrator is naïve and candid, amoral and callous yet the language displays a certain cynicism and innocence. The novel is still in print today, over a hundred years after it was first published showing that Radiguet could easily have become one of the great French literary masters had he lived longer. Yet his work is relatively unknown.
So why didn't I enjoy it more? The themes would be considered a lot less controversial today than they were when first published in France in 1923 and whilst I admire the writing style the story itself failed to really grip me. I also felt rather sorry for Marthe (the girl) and was somewhat confused as to whether or not the narrator really loved her or was she simply a living, breathing sex toy to him? As I said previously the author's own life intrigued me more.
March 18, 2017
Opera matura di un diciassettenne immaturo.
Mi ha lasciato quasi stordita questo romanzo. La domanda che mi frulla per la testa di cui non mi capacito è come abbia potuto un diciassettenne scriverlo. Un banale triangolo amoroso (cui i critici hanno dato le più svariate interpretazioni psicanalitiche prendendo le mosse dalla mitologia greca) viene innalzato dalla maestria dello scrittore a uno studio, così approfondito che sembra fatto da uno scienziato al microscopio, della passione amorosa, che viene scandagliata e quasi vivisezionata in ogni sua piega, di un amante adolescente, viziato, capriccioso e profondamente egoista, immerso nelle contraddizioni e nei conflitti tipici dell’età, colpevole di sottili crudeltà gratuite, vigliaccherie e infedeltà verso l’amata, una fanciulla poco più grande di lui che sembra però adulta rispetto ai suoi capricci, tanto coinvolta sentimentalmente da essere disposta a qualsiasi cosa per lui. Lui, il personaggio maschile di cui mai si fa il nome, è così profondamente vero, nell’immaturità giovanile che tutti abbiamo conosciuto, che è come se Radiguet diciassettenne si fosse posto davanti ad uno specchio e avesse dipinto con la penna l’immagine rimandatagli, senza nascondere nulla di quello che vedeva, anche i lati oscuri e feroci della temerarietà giovanile. E questo rappresenta, a mio giudizio, espressione di capacità critica e di maturità sbalorditivi per un diciassettenne. Al contempo, accanto alla spietata indagine psicologica dei protagonisti, la scrittura di Radiguet è attraversata da massime brevi e taglienti che spezzano per un momento il ritmo tumultuoso della storia -definita dallo stesso protagonista una corsa “durata un anno in una vettura lanciata a folle velocità”- che esprimono una saggezza adulta. Un’opera di un genio o, come può sorgere il sospetto, un puro esercizio di stile? Radiguet è morto giovanissimo, a vent’anni. Il mistero affascina i lettori, io ne sono rimasta incantata e consiglio a chi non l’ha fatto di leggerlo. Affinchè sbalordisca anche lui.
Mi ha lasciato quasi stordita questo romanzo. La domanda che mi frulla per la testa di cui non mi capacito è come abbia potuto un diciassettenne scriverlo. Un banale triangolo amoroso (cui i critici hanno dato le più svariate interpretazioni psicanalitiche prendendo le mosse dalla mitologia greca) viene innalzato dalla maestria dello scrittore a uno studio, così approfondito che sembra fatto da uno scienziato al microscopio, della passione amorosa, che viene scandagliata e quasi vivisezionata in ogni sua piega, di un amante adolescente, viziato, capriccioso e profondamente egoista, immerso nelle contraddizioni e nei conflitti tipici dell’età, colpevole di sottili crudeltà gratuite, vigliaccherie e infedeltà verso l’amata, una fanciulla poco più grande di lui che sembra però adulta rispetto ai suoi capricci, tanto coinvolta sentimentalmente da essere disposta a qualsiasi cosa per lui. Lui, il personaggio maschile di cui mai si fa il nome, è così profondamente vero, nell’immaturità giovanile che tutti abbiamo conosciuto, che è come se Radiguet diciassettenne si fosse posto davanti ad uno specchio e avesse dipinto con la penna l’immagine rimandatagli, senza nascondere nulla di quello che vedeva, anche i lati oscuri e feroci della temerarietà giovanile. E questo rappresenta, a mio giudizio, espressione di capacità critica e di maturità sbalorditivi per un diciassettenne. Al contempo, accanto alla spietata indagine psicologica dei protagonisti, la scrittura di Radiguet è attraversata da massime brevi e taglienti che spezzano per un momento il ritmo tumultuoso della storia -definita dallo stesso protagonista una corsa “durata un anno in una vettura lanciata a folle velocità”- che esprimono una saggezza adulta. Un’opera di un genio o, come può sorgere il sospetto, un puro esercizio di stile? Radiguet è morto giovanissimo, a vent’anni. Il mistero affascina i lettori, io ne sono rimasta incantata e consiglio a chi non l’ha fatto di leggerlo. Affinchè sbalordisca anche lui.
March 29, 2024
Tra le tre e le quattro stelle.
Il diavolo in corpo è un romanzo breve (a larghi tratti autobiografico, secondo le testimonianze dell'autore e ancor di più di chi lo conobbe) scritto da Radiguet tra i diciassette ed i diciotto anni: costituisce uno dei soli due lasciti narrativi dello scrittore francese, morto di febbre tifoidea a soli vent'anni.
La trama del romanzo è volutamente essenziale: un anonimo adolescente (le vicende si svolgono prevalentemente tra i 15 ed i 16 anni, in piena prima guerra mondiale) racconta in prima persona la sua scandalosa relazione con la diciannovenne Marthe, novella sposa di un ignaro ed innamoratissimo soldato al fronte, Jacques. La guerra tuttavia sembra non esserci affatto, se si eccettua la sola costretta lontananza di Jacques, né tantomeno nell'arco dell'intero romanzo vi sono accenni più o meno vaghi alle vicende belliche, nonostante gli eventi si svolgano interamente in un immaginario villaggio sulla lacerata Marna. Lo stesso protagonista racconta di come per lui e per i suoi coetanei non fosse altro, la guerra, che un'enorme vacanza, decisiva per la propria formazione personale.
In effetti, a tratti il romanzo può essere definito quasi di formazione (o meglio di formazione al contrario), sia per il protagonista che per Marthe: per l'uno, nella formazione del suo carattere sessuale, dell'indurirsi nel rapporto della sua indole dispotica e gelosa, follemente gelosa, del sopravvento di una cinica e fredda ironia man mano che il fuoco d'amore diminuisce (ed è forse in quest'indole annichilente il diavolo in corpo del titolo): per l'altra, il distruttivo giovane (espressamente rimbaldiano, anche nelle sue letture) funge da guida e vate per la distruzione della catena della rigida morale e dei falsi costumi a cui Marthe (ed ognuno di noi) è costretta, dai rapporti familiari fino al rapporto con lo sventurato marito.
Nel racconto delle precipitose vicende amorose, ciò che colpisce è la sagacia sconfinata del narratore, soprattutto considerando l'età in cui scrisse il romanzo: l'intera narrazione è continuamente intervallata da considerazioni morali ed analitiche sulla natura dell'amore e del sentimento, ma non dalla prospettiva corrente psicanalitica, bensì dalla prospettiva dei moralisti del seicento: un altro elemento di incredibile acume e spessore sta nel come queste continue asserzioni, piuttosto che dare chiarezza alla vicenda, scardinino continuamente le certezze del lettore, insinuando continui dubbi (ed insolubili) sulle figure dei protagonisti, ed in particolare sulla figura in apparenza pura, ingenua (e probabilmente anche in essenza, non si sa) di Marthe.
Credo tuttavia che il problema principale del romanzetto sia la sua monotematicità, che alla lunga, soprattutto nella pancia del racconto, tende un po' a stufare: tuttavia, il colpo di scena sul finire, e il conseguente cataclisma finale, risollevano le vicende, e le ultime due-tre pagine sono di un'intensità e di una forza introspettiva mostruosa.
Il diavolo in corpo è un romanzo breve (a larghi tratti autobiografico, secondo le testimonianze dell'autore e ancor di più di chi lo conobbe) scritto da Radiguet tra i diciassette ed i diciotto anni: costituisce uno dei soli due lasciti narrativi dello scrittore francese, morto di febbre tifoidea a soli vent'anni.
La trama del romanzo è volutamente essenziale: un anonimo adolescente (le vicende si svolgono prevalentemente tra i 15 ed i 16 anni, in piena prima guerra mondiale) racconta in prima persona la sua scandalosa relazione con la diciannovenne Marthe, novella sposa di un ignaro ed innamoratissimo soldato al fronte, Jacques. La guerra tuttavia sembra non esserci affatto, se si eccettua la sola costretta lontananza di Jacques, né tantomeno nell'arco dell'intero romanzo vi sono accenni più o meno vaghi alle vicende belliche, nonostante gli eventi si svolgano interamente in un immaginario villaggio sulla lacerata Marna. Lo stesso protagonista racconta di come per lui e per i suoi coetanei non fosse altro, la guerra, che un'enorme vacanza, decisiva per la propria formazione personale.
In effetti, a tratti il romanzo può essere definito quasi di formazione (o meglio di formazione al contrario), sia per il protagonista che per Marthe: per l'uno, nella formazione del suo carattere sessuale, dell'indurirsi nel rapporto della sua indole dispotica e gelosa, follemente gelosa, del sopravvento di una cinica e fredda ironia man mano che il fuoco d'amore diminuisce (ed è forse in quest'indole annichilente il diavolo in corpo del titolo): per l'altra, il distruttivo giovane (espressamente rimbaldiano, anche nelle sue letture) funge da guida e vate per la distruzione della catena della rigida morale e dei falsi costumi a cui Marthe (ed ognuno di noi) è costretta, dai rapporti familiari fino al rapporto con lo sventurato marito.
Nel racconto delle precipitose vicende amorose, ciò che colpisce è la sagacia sconfinata del narratore, soprattutto considerando l'età in cui scrisse il romanzo: l'intera narrazione è continuamente intervallata da considerazioni morali ed analitiche sulla natura dell'amore e del sentimento, ma non dalla prospettiva corrente psicanalitica, bensì dalla prospettiva dei moralisti del seicento: un altro elemento di incredibile acume e spessore sta nel come queste continue asserzioni, piuttosto che dare chiarezza alla vicenda, scardinino continuamente le certezze del lettore, insinuando continui dubbi (ed insolubili) sulle figure dei protagonisti, ed in particolare sulla figura in apparenza pura, ingenua (e probabilmente anche in essenza, non si sa) di Marthe.
Credo tuttavia che il problema principale del romanzetto sia la sua monotematicità, che alla lunga, soprattutto nella pancia del racconto, tende un po' a stufare: tuttavia, il colpo di scena sul finire, e il conseguente cataclisma finale, risollevano le vicende, e le ultime due-tre pagine sono di un'intensità e di una forza introspettiva mostruosa.
August 25, 2017
Μία τρυφερή αλλά ιδιαίτερα ρεαλιστική ιστορία παράνομου ερωτικού πάθους στη δύσκολη ηλικία της εφηβείας. Μία ιστορία που ο συγγραφέας μας τη μεταφέρει με κάθε λεπτομέρεια, εμβαθύνοντας στις σκέψεις και τα συναισθήματα, δείχνοντας μας όλη την ομορφιά του πρώτου έρωτα αλλά και με ειλικρίνεια όλα τα αρνητικά που μπορεί να έχει. Έχουμε, λοιπόν, μπροστά μας έναν έρωτα παθιασμένο αλλά κατά βάθος δειλό, έναν έρωτα που σκέφτεται τη θυσία αλλά στην πραγματικότητα είναι εγωιστικός, έναν έρωτα που είναι έτοιμος να δώσει τα πάντα αλλά παράλληλα ζητάει τα πάντα, έναν έρωτα ειλικρινή, γνήσιο, τρυφερό, ικανό να ξυπνήσει τα πιο όμορφα συναισθήματα αλλά δύσπιστο, δολοπλόκο, σκληρό, έτοιμο να δημιουργήσει σχέδια εκδίκησης ακόμα και απέναντι σε αυτούς που δεν φταίνε σε τίποτα.
Με λίγα λόγια ο συγγραφέας δημιουργεί όπως είπα μία τρυφερή ιστορία αγάπης στην οποία θα βρούμε όλο το ρομαντισμό που αναζητούμε, παράλληλα, όμως, δεν μασάει τα λόγια του, δεν ωραιοποιεί καταστάσεις, καταφέρνοντας με αυτόν τον τρόπο να μας βάλει και σε σκέψεις για τη φύση του έρωτα. Αυτά τα δύο στοιχεία τα βάζει με τον καλύτερο τρόπο, δημιουργώντας με την υπέροχη γραφή του κάτι όμορφο και με τους συλλογισμούς του κάτι πολύ ουσιαστικό. Αυτή η ομορφιά με συγκίνησε και όλα τα υπόλοιπα με έκαναν να καταλάβω ότι διαβάζω κάτι σημαντικό. Οπότε βρίσκομαι ξανά σε μία κατάσταση όπου αδυνατώ σε ένα βιβλίο να βάλω κάτι λιγότερο από την άριστη βαθμολογία.
Με λίγα λόγια ο συγγραφέας δημιουργεί όπως είπα μία τρυφερή ιστορία αγάπης στην οποία θα βρούμε όλο το ρομαντισμό που αναζητούμε, παράλληλα, όμως, δεν μασάει τα λόγια του, δεν ωραιοποιεί καταστάσεις, καταφέρνοντας με αυτόν τον τρόπο να μας βάλει και σε σκέψεις για τη φύση του έρωτα. Αυτά τα δύο στοιχεία τα βάζει με τον καλύτερο τρόπο, δημιουργώντας με την υπέροχη γραφή του κάτι όμορφο και με τους συλλογισμούς του κάτι πολύ ουσιαστικό. Αυτή η ομορφιά με συγκίνησε και όλα τα υπόλοιπα με έκαναν να καταλάβω ότι διαβάζω κάτι σημαντικό. Οπότε βρίσκομαι ξανά σε μία κατάσταση όπου αδυνατώ σε ένα βιβλίο να βάλω κάτι λιγότερο από την άριστη βαθμολογία.
March 20, 2011
Very brief novel about teenage love, The protagonists are 16 (he) and 19 (she). She is married to a soldier at the front (set in WW1). Captures wonderfully the angst, passion, selfishness, obsession of teenage love. The boy is sometimes like a toddler having a tantrum and yet the subjects are much more serious. It is a looking back novel and he continues to wonder how selfish and stupid he has been and how little he understood. Yet this was written by a teenage boy. Radiguet wrote 2 novels, was a protege of Cocteau and was dead by the time he was 20. A remarkable achievement, this novel, for one so young. Worth tracking the book down, and for those of us of more mature years a chance to look back and ask if it was really like that!!
July 31, 2022
«Ωστόσο, έλεγα μέσα μου, φαίνεται πως ο έρωτας προσφέρει πολλά στους ανθρώπους μια και όλοι του παραδίδουν την ελευθερία τους. Και σκεπτόμουν, πόσο θα 'θελα να γινόμουν γρήγορα τόσο δυνατός ώστε να μπορώ να κάνω χωρίς έρωτα, και να μη χρειάζεται να θυσιάζω καμιά επιθυμία μου σ' αυτόν. Δεν ήξερα πως, αφού πάντα κάπου πρέπει να είμαστε δούλοι, καλύτερα είναι να μας έχει δούλους η καρδιά μας, πάρα οι αισθήσεις μας.»
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