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Een oude weduwnaar schrijft aan zijn zoon, die lang geleden verdween, een brief die hij telkens opnieuw begint - met steeds andere herinneringen en fantasieën - en die hij tenslotte niet verzendt.
151 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
28 people want to read
About the author
Robert Pinget
67 books41 followersRobert Pinget was a Swiss-born French novelist and playwright associated with the nouveau roman movement.
After completing his law studies and working as a lawyer for a year, he moved to Paris in 1946 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
In 1951, he published his first novel Entre Fantoine et Agapa. After publishing two other novels, but then having his fourth rejected by Gallimard, Pinget was recommended by Alain Robbe-Grillet and Samuel Beckett to Jérôme Lindon, head of Éditions de Minuit, where he subsequently published Graal flibuste in 1956. Éditions de Minuit became his main publisher.
Scholars and critics have often associated his work with that of his friend Samuel Beckett, who he met in 1955.
(from Wikipedia)
After completing his law studies and working as a lawyer for a year, he moved to Paris in 1946 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
In 1951, he published his first novel Entre Fantoine et Agapa. After publishing two other novels, but then having his fourth rejected by Gallimard, Pinget was recommended by Alain Robbe-Grillet and Samuel Beckett to Jérôme Lindon, head of Éditions de Minuit, where he subsequently published Graal flibuste in 1956. Éditions de Minuit became his main publisher.
Scholars and critics have often associated his work with that of his friend Samuel Beckett, who he met in 1955.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 26, 2022
Perhaps better known than Monsieur Levert is Pinget's adaptation of Monsieur Levert into a play, Dead Letter (from Pinget's Collected Plays: Volume 1), which "shared the bill with Beckett's
Krapp's Last Tape
at the Théâtre Récamier in the spring of 1960" (
The Theatre of the Absurd
, pg. 299).
That Pinget's play was performed alongside Beckett is a testament to the parallels in both authors/playwrights works. Indeed, they share many preoccupations. Both Monsieur Levert and Krapp's Last Tape focus on the rituals of an old man ostensibly waiting for death. Encapsulated by a line that is reminiscent of Beckett's "I can't go, I'll go on" from The Unnameable: "Reconstructing my memory by spelling out this love for no one every day, once you had left my paternal roof there remains, there remains this love of this letter of this hand writing, I'm starting over but will I have the strength" (pg. 50).
In Monsieur Levert, it is the daily ritual of writing a letter to his estranged son. In Krapp's Last Tape , it is the annual ritual (on his birthday) of recording an account of the past 12 months (which, at least in the case of this session on his 69th birthday, entails reviewing his tapes and listening to previous recordings).
Krapp's Last Tape , however, may be more accurately aligned to Monsieur Levert in its dramatic form (Dead Letter) rather than its novelistic form (Monsieur Levert). In fact, there is a closer comparison to be drawn between Monsieur Levert (in its novelistic form) and Beckett's Waiting for Godot .
In The Theatre of the Absurd , Esslin astutely points out that the old man (Monsieur Levert) "is waiting without real hope, like the tramps in Waiting for Godot " ( The Theatre of the Absurd , pg. 299), but he neglects to address the structure. Monsieur Levert, like Waiting for Godot , is divided into two parts which represent two days. The first day plays out with some surprises and minimal repetition. In fact, the only conspicuous repetition is the announcement of a death. The first line of the novel is: "The shoemaker's daughter is dead." (pg. 7) Before the end of the first day, Monsieur Levert will be informed of the death three times, each time reacting as if he is hearing the news for the first time. Only after being told a third time does Levert explain that "he never remembered names" (pg. 24).
The second part, the second day is where the repetition becomes evident...
- On the first day, Monsieur Levert was visited my his sister, who offered the housekeeper tea, but the housekeeper refused on the grounds that "she had trouble sleeping" (pg. 24). On the second day, Monsieur Levert was visited by his niece, who offered the maid tea, but the maid refused on the grounds that "it kept her from sleeping" (pg. 92).
- George, a young painter, encounters Alice, his "so-called fiancee" (pg. 98), and her Aunt Pacot, who doesn't approve of Alice's involvement with George. On the first day, the encounter is described from Alice's perspective. On the second day, the encounter is described from George's perspective.
- On the second day, an episode involving George, George's friend Rodolphe, and George's sister Margot, involving a flirtation between Rodolphe and Margot that ends with Rodolphe remarking to George: "Quite a girl your sister" followed by: "That's the way it started" (pg. 103). The episode is reminiscent of an episode from the past, described on the first day, involving Louis, Louis's friend Leon, and Louis's sister Marie (the shoemaker's daughter), involving a flirtation between Leon and Marie that ends with Leon asking Louis: "How old is your sister?" followed by: "That's the way it started" (pg. 38).
What else can I say about the book? Monsieur Levert seems to be at odds with itself. There is a discrepancy between the stark accounts of events and the drawn-out descriptions of settings. However drawn-out the descriptions may be, they are written with the same starkness as the events. There is nothing in the language to enhance what the author is describing, thus they descend into a tedium that is agonizing to read. (Perhaps this is the author's intention?)
The novel is at its best when it strays from Monsieur Levert. Indeed, the novel is most remarkable for its episodic passages involving the other inhabitants of the small town in which the story is set. Told with a starkness befitting the unassuming simplicity of the characters and their setting...
That Pinget's play was performed alongside Beckett is a testament to the parallels in both authors/playwrights works. Indeed, they share many preoccupations. Both Monsieur Levert and Krapp's Last Tape focus on the rituals of an old man ostensibly waiting for death. Encapsulated by a line that is reminiscent of Beckett's "I can't go, I'll go on" from The Unnameable: "Reconstructing my memory by spelling out this love for no one every day, once you had left my paternal roof there remains, there remains this love of this letter of this hand writing, I'm starting over but will I have the strength" (pg. 50).
In Monsieur Levert, it is the daily ritual of writing a letter to his estranged son. In Krapp's Last Tape , it is the annual ritual (on his birthday) of recording an account of the past 12 months (which, at least in the case of this session on his 69th birthday, entails reviewing his tapes and listening to previous recordings).
Krapp's Last Tape , however, may be more accurately aligned to Monsieur Levert in its dramatic form (Dead Letter) rather than its novelistic form (Monsieur Levert). In fact, there is a closer comparison to be drawn between Monsieur Levert (in its novelistic form) and Beckett's Waiting for Godot .
In The Theatre of the Absurd , Esslin astutely points out that the old man (Monsieur Levert) "is waiting without real hope, like the tramps in Waiting for Godot " ( The Theatre of the Absurd , pg. 299), but he neglects to address the structure. Monsieur Levert, like Waiting for Godot , is divided into two parts which represent two days. The first day plays out with some surprises and minimal repetition. In fact, the only conspicuous repetition is the announcement of a death. The first line of the novel is: "The shoemaker's daughter is dead." (pg. 7) Before the end of the first day, Monsieur Levert will be informed of the death three times, each time reacting as if he is hearing the news for the first time. Only after being told a third time does Levert explain that "he never remembered names" (pg. 24).
The second part, the second day is where the repetition becomes evident...
- On the first day, Monsieur Levert was visited my his sister, who offered the housekeeper tea, but the housekeeper refused on the grounds that "she had trouble sleeping" (pg. 24). On the second day, Monsieur Levert was visited by his niece, who offered the maid tea, but the maid refused on the grounds that "it kept her from sleeping" (pg. 92).
- George, a young painter, encounters Alice, his "so-called fiancee" (pg. 98), and her Aunt Pacot, who doesn't approve of Alice's involvement with George. On the first day, the encounter is described from Alice's perspective. On the second day, the encounter is described from George's perspective.
- On the second day, an episode involving George, George's friend Rodolphe, and George's sister Margot, involving a flirtation between Rodolphe and Margot that ends with Rodolphe remarking to George: "Quite a girl your sister" followed by: "That's the way it started" (pg. 103). The episode is reminiscent of an episode from the past, described on the first day, involving Louis, Louis's friend Leon, and Louis's sister Marie (the shoemaker's daughter), involving a flirtation between Leon and Marie that ends with Leon asking Louis: "How old is your sister?" followed by: "That's the way it started" (pg. 38).
What else can I say about the book? Monsieur Levert seems to be at odds with itself. There is a discrepancy between the stark accounts of events and the drawn-out descriptions of settings. However drawn-out the descriptions may be, they are written with the same starkness as the events. There is nothing in the language to enhance what the author is describing, thus they descend into a tedium that is agonizing to read. (Perhaps this is the author's intention?)
The living room occupies the entire left side, there is a glass door at each end of the central hallway, the dining room is at the north end of the right side and the kitchen at the south. The staircase in the hallway leads to the first floor. Half way up a door opens onto the tower, then the steps turn and continue to the upstairs hall. The four bedrooms, their walls white with a pinkish cast, have iron bedsteads painted black and decorated with medallions representing religious subjects and angels.... (pg. 48)
This is the middle of the cemetery where there is a stone cross about nine feet high with a cast-iron Christ. Mission 1927. The pedestal consists of two steps on which vases and zinc containers have been put for flowers. To the right of the path after the Cruzes, comes the Porra-Brechon family which Odette belongs to. Serene Porra-Brechon nee Valin 1874-1945, Fulmert 1875-1952, Angele 1900-1955. Tombstone of cracked Molasse. Introit ad altare Dei. Next, a grave with a little pediment for Nicholas Vieuxpont, the former Mayor 1878-1949... (pg. 57)
The novel is at its best when it strays from Monsieur Levert. Indeed, the novel is most remarkable for its episodic passages involving the other inhabitants of the small town in which the story is set. Told with a starkness befitting the unassuming simplicity of the characters and their setting...
They started singing. The man upstairs pounded on the floor to make them shut up but they went right on. He came down, didn't even knock, and came in saying: If you don't stop I'm calling the police. They boys got scared and went, leaving George with Alice. The man went right on shouting, there was a lot of noise. Another tenant came out into the hall in her nightgown and asked what was going on. She saw Alice lying drunk on the bed through the open door. She said: It's shameful, that's what it is, girls like that should be whipped. George tried to get at her but the other tenant slammed the door shut and shouted at him to sleep it off with his slut. He went back upstairs, and the woman went away too. (pg. 13-14)
Not far from Odette and Sonia were a middle-aged man and woman talking English. They're American, Sonia said, they have a Chicago accent, very vulgar. He's complaining because he doesn't want to see his sister-in-law again. Americans are funny, Odette said, they never care what other people think, they talk loud as if it was impossible for us to understand them. They don't care, Sonia said, that's not why they talk loud, they don't have any secrets, they think we're the same way. Odette laughed. The American woman turned around and said something to her in English. Sonia answered. What did she say, Odette asked. She said she doesn't hear people laughing here often. I told her we laugh more in places where we play less. The two Americans went on talking to Sonia. They invited her over tho their table. Sonia explained that her friend didn't speak English and besides the would have to be leaving soon. The Americans left almost immediately afterwards, without saying good-bye. (pg. 88-89)
October 7, 2022
A classic French novel, copyright 1959/translation 1961. Detailed, melancholy, natural run-on, mind-swirling descriptions about a village, a father, a son and the combined regrets. In spite of my description, a pleasure to read.
August 15, 2017
George Perec did a much better job
September 27, 2010
Awesome!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews