When Jonathan Died

by Tony Duvert

Der junge Maler Jonathan lebt allein und abgeschieden auf dem Land. Immer wieder wird Serge zu ihm 'abgeschoben', der Sohn einer Freundin aus Paris, die keine Lust hat, sich um ihn zu kümmern. Serge ist im wörtlichen Sinn ein 'ungezogener' egoistisch, amoralisch, ohne Werte. Er brät Regenwürmer, experimentiert mit Schnecken und Kröten und spielt an seinem Körper herum. Und an dem von Jonathan. Jonathan weiß, dass das nicht sein darf. Dennoch gibt er Serge den Raum, den der sich sowieso erobert.

Mit großer Diskretion schrieb Duvert Ende der 1970er Jahre diesen komplexen Gesellschafts-, Erziehungs- und Liebesroman, der von der französischen Presse hoch gelobt wurde.

"Ungewöhnliche Sinneseindrücke und tiefgehende Erinnerungen. Man lernt, dass Liebe stirbt, wenn sie gesellschaftsfähig wird." (Le Monde)

Genres: France, Queer, Romance, Death, Erotica, Gay, Fiction

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Tony Duvert is a French writer born in 1945. Polemist and champion of the rights of the children to have a right to their own body and sexuality, on which he’s published two controversial books of essays, Good Sex Illustrated (1974), L'Enfant au Masculin (1980), though these themes greatly shape his novels. He received the Prix Médicis in 1973 for his novel Paysage du Fantasie (published in America by Grove in 1976 as Strange Landscape). And in 1978, he published with the Éditions Fata Morgana, two works of prose poetry and short texts: District and Les Petits Métiers.

Reviews

[Federica ~ Excusetheink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arrivata qui non so se è valutare quattro stelle questo romanzo o aver visto i Mayhem nel 2017 a darmi la patente di bestia di Satana, ma ho fatto entrambe le cose senza rimorsi.
Ne parlerò, giuro

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Like so many novels, this book is the story of a love affair. What is less usual is that Jonathan, an artist, is almost thirty when the story starts, while Serge is a boy of eight. Jonathan had got to know Serge and his mother Barbara in Paris the previous year. Tired of the city and confused by the stress of this relationship, Jonathan shut himself away in a remote village. But his retreat is disturbed when Barbara needs someone to look after Serge for the summer while she travels abroad. Like all lovers, Jonathan and Serge create their own microcosm of domestic and erotic ritual, but theirs is aworlkd that shatters on contact with the surrounding society.

"Published by Editions de Minuit, a leading literary press, Tony Duvert is respected in France for both fiction and essays, but the uncompromising motif that pervades his work has up to now barred him from reaching English readers. GMP are especially pleased to welcome Duvert to our translation series; his cool and matter-off-fact portrayal of a sensitive theme is a welcome alternative to the hysteria surrounding the age taboo in English-speaking countries.

"'One of the most intelligent, bold and subversive books of the year.' - Le Monde.

(From the back cover of the Gay Men's Press edition of 1991)

PREFACE:

It is challenging for many readers under sixty to understand neither Gay Men's Press in having this novel translated, nor the French French Foreign Ministry via its official programme of promoting the publication in the USA of translations of Tony Duvert's novel 'Diary of Innocent', were part of a secret, clandestine, NAMBLA (Google it) infiltration campaign to promote pedophilia and pederasty. Indeed despite the synopsis I quoted above 'When Johnathan Died' has nothing to do with Man-Boy love stories like Frits Bernhard's 'Costa Brava (see my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). It is not propaganda for Man-Boy love because Serge's fate and the character of Johnathan are deeply disturbing and almost the stellar opposite to a lyrical evocation of boys and men dancing bare assed under a Provencal sun towards a better future.

In 'When Johnathan Died' and 'Diary of Innocent', as well as in many of his other novels, Tony Duvert is not seeking to promote inter-generational sex but is challenging the way children were being corrupted and destroyed by educational and cultural influences designed to repress them and turn them into mindless automan. The same structures that he is attacking in novels like 'When Jonathan Died' are exactly the same as in his later novel 'Atlantic Island' which is totally free of any Man-Boy angle. To understand Tony Duvert I highly recommend the essay by Bruce Benderson that accompanies his translation of 'Diary of an Innocent'. Also the following academic, but very readable, article:

'Mothers and/as Monsters in Tony Duvert's "Quand mourut Jonathan"' by Brian Gordon Kennelly at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41705541....

Is 'When Jonathan Died' worth reading? Absolutely but, as second-hand copies of the English translation, the only kind available, sell for £100+, I suggest you begin exploring Tony Duvert's oeuvre via 'Atlantic Island' which has much to challenge and disturb you but no sex between prepubescent boys and adult males.

[Kasparov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, alla fine mica è brutto.
Scritto da un pedofilo e si vede. Il bambino è complice nelle scopate, si comporta come un partner adulto e ama come un adulto. Non esiste il concetto di stupro.

Una volta che ti abitui allo stile di scrittura fila liscio. Tolte le scene erotiche (comunque scritte con delicatezza e mai volgari), ci sono un sacco di riflessioni interessanti sull'amore e sulla morte, ovviamente direi, visto che è francese.

Tutto sommato un bel libro che non consiglierei a nessuno.

[Federica Timeto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una storia d'amore tra un adulto e un bambino raccontata con uno struggimento e un coinvolgimento tali da tenere lontano qualsiasi giudizio stigmatizzante. Migliori le parti più dolorose e intimiste, risente forse un po' troppo del peso del tempo nelle parti più a tesi e didascaliche.

[von · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como los comentaristas italianos mencionaron, este libro es evidentemente francés. Que no se malinterprete mi adjetivo, realmente me refiero a que la escritura tiene muchas libertades de las que todavía no me acostumbro como lector y siento como una pequeña piedrita en el zapato de mi lectura. Es grotesco, sencillo y muestra la premisa como algo que debe tomarse con naturaleza, donde el autor busca brindarte una hipótesis del “¿qué pasaría si hubieran excepciones?” para explicar quizás, sus propios intereses. En este paisaje pintado, puedo rescatar que pone en la mesa dolencias ligadas al tiempo por su carácter efímero: la juventud, el amor, la vida misma. Creo que deja pensando al lector sobre lo que significa para un niño el amor (o interés) adulto y viceversa. Principalmente cuando este tiene una fecha de caducidad.

[Emanuele · Rating 2 out of 5]

il libro non mi è sembrato nulla di che....apprezzatissima la tematica trattata, visto che sono pochi i libri che parlano di quest argomento senza peli sulla lingua, pero la storia nel complesso non mi è piaciuta molto...

[Kevin Ratelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

On dirait que l'auteur est un pédophile qui essaie de nous convaincre que ce n'est pas dégueulasse.