Precedence

by François Mauriac, Walter Ballenberger (Translator)

François Mauriac, Nobel Prize winner in Literature, grew up in the Bordeaux region of France in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was well aware of the importance of wine in the culture there. Of course, wine is still immensely important in Bordeaux. This novel, originally published in 1921 under the French title, Préséances, examines through its characters how this culture affected society during those times.

The society was dominated by the “Sons of the Great Houses,” or the heirs of the important wine producers. They attained a status of semi-royalty at the moment of birth. With impunity they could eschew social civility and courtesy without reproach. This was their birthright.

The narrator of the story, who is never named, attended a private school that also had many of the “Sons” as students. He and his sister, Florence, were raised by their uncle and their aunt. Their uncle was a dealer in imported wood that was used to make wine barrels, but despite making a comfortable living, this put the entire family into a social class that was one or more steps below that of the “Sons,” although the entire family aspired to be part of “That World.”

The narrator and his uncle were snubbed on one occasion in front of the whole town at a public ceremony. Instead of accepting defeat and the additional snubbing that would certainly follow, they contrived a plan to use the intelligence of another student in the school, an outcast named Augustin, to reach their final goal which was for Florence to marry one of the “Sons” and to officially be recognized as part of “That World.” But to do so they unfortunately had to disown Augustin, to the ultimate regret of both of them.

This story is about ambition, rites of birth, greed, envy, social status, incivility, self-righteousness, and more. These types of emotions and conduct are very easily understandable in today’s world of almost a century later, and this book could be adapted into a modern movie, but to my knowledge it never has been although other Mauriac novels have.

Years ago I purchased a little wine handbook, beautifully illustrated, called the Vogue A-Z of Wine, written by Henry McNulty. Under the title “Bordeaux,” the article starts out with these words: “Prestige, thy name is Bordeaux!” Readers of Precedence can observe how these words were true in more ways than one and the effects all this had on people.

Genres: Fiction

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

François Charles Mauriac was a French writer and a member of the Académie française. He was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life." Mauriac is acknowledged to be one of the greatest Roman Catholic writers of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mauriac was very aware of the tradition of seduction in French Literature. He even mentions Stendhal, Dangerous Liaisons, and Madame Bovary in the text. But here he turns that tradition on its head when the children of a wealthy French family become infatuated with a strange boy with a mysterious background and a total indifference to his place in Bordeaux's class system. It is a beautiful book about using people, materialism, and transcendence.

[Esdaile · Rating 4 out of 5]

« Préséances » de Francois Mauriac est un roman remarquable, une histoire apparement de marriage d'ambition et de premier amour dnas la région de Bourdeaux au debout du vingtième siècle. Il trait d'un sujet ignoré des romanciers que je connais, qu'ils soient ou anglais ou allemands ou français, à savoir: est ce qu'on continue à aimer une personne qu'on aimait quand on était jeune et beau si on voit le bien-aimé, après une longue période d’absence? Souvent on ne le fait pas, bein entendu, et donc la questione se pose toujours. L'amour est-elle une illusion que nous nous faisons à fin d'explioter un sujet, une "victime" de nos propres désirs et éspoirs et même idealisme? Notre bien aimé, c'est pêut-être d'une certaine sense iréel, une creation constiuée aux nos propres fins de vanité, notre rêve qui reste pas d'autre qu'illusion, qu'une chimère? Ou est c'est le case que aux derniers jours quand la réligion nous affirme que les morts se réveilleront, ils se réveilleront dans les formes de leurs plus beaux jours out plutôt dans le déguisement de leurs derniers jours? Nos vanités, nos vanités contre la mer de l’éternité voila le sujet de ce roman partiellement oublié, profondément catholique, pas vraisemblable dans son intrigue, mais profond, recherchant, plein de passion et de douleur mais aussi d'éspoir concernant les questions qu'il suscite et aux-quels il nous invite, chaqu'un des lecteurs, à répondre.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mauriac has a very distinct and original style. He is brilliant, and this book is very complex and very beautiful. I know a lot of it went straight over my head because I don't speak French and am unfamiliar with the Bordeaux castes he is talking about. Still, each culture has its own social hierarchies, so I could wrap my head around his points enough to appreciate them. Mauriac tends to focus on deeper meaning and insight into the human soul. This book is fraught with Biblical allusion. A very impressive, disconcerting read. The few novels of his I've read have convinced me I need to read all his work. His writing style is always engaging and his themes profound. This is a short read (158p), but you could spend loads of time analyzing it. It's a great piece of lit. His tone and themes remind me a bit of Henry James, whom I also love to read.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got the sense that the flowery descriptions of upper-crust Bordeaux society were probably meant to be satirical, but it didn't really come across very well in the translation. The ending is quite poignant, but the plot turns on a highly unlikely coincidence. Not my favorite Mauriac, but worth reading.